Known more commonly as the Lagoon nebula, M8 is a beautiful cloud of gas illuminated by a 5.9 magnitude star inside. The nebula is about 150 light years in diameter and lies about 5,200 light years from Earth. M8 is a stellar nursery where many new stars are being formed from the great clouds of gas. With a visual magnitude of 6, this nebula can be easily seen in the constellation of Sagittarius with the naked eye on a dark, clear night. A telescope will reveal some of the more complex patterns of bright and dark areas within the nebula