M 8

M8, the Lagoon Nebula or NGC 6523, is a giant emission nebula with an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius, discovered by Giovanni Hodierna in 1654. It's an active stellar nursery ionized by ultraviolet radiation from embedded young stars, spanning 90 x 40 arcminutes.  Apparent magnitude is 6.0. Distance from Earth is 4,100 light-years.