The earliest observations of this object were made by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654. He classified it as "nebulosa" of intermediate brightness. It was independently noted as a "nebula" by John Flamsteed around 1680. The object was again seen by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1746, who could resolve some stars and consequently classified it as a cluster. One year later, in 1747, it was observed by Guillaume Le Gentil, who found the nebula along with the cluster. Abbe Nicholas Louis de la Caille cataloged it in his 1751-52 compilation. When Charles Messier cataloged this object in 1764, he primarily described the cluster, and mentioned the nebula separately as surrounding the star 9 Sagittarii. Although most sources identify only the nebula as "Messier 8", it is clear from Messier's description that he found both the nebula and the cluster.

Total image time was 80 minutes.

Exposure	8 x 10 min.
Gain	100
Camera	ToupTek ATR2600C [6224 x 4168]
Optics	120mm Skywatcher Esprit on a Proxisky UMi20S Strain Wave mount
Guiding	ToupTek GPM462M using Phd2 with a 400mm guide scope. Average 20 min sub GuideRMS ranged from 0.4 to 0.6 using 0.5 sec exposures.
Controller	Kstars on MeLe Quieter 4C
Filter	Triad Quad Ultra
Location	St. Croix Observatory, Nova Scotia.
Date	2025-09-21
Processing	Processed in PixInsight.
PixInsight Processing	WeightedBatchPreprocessing Script BlurXTerminator GraXpert SpectrophotometricColour Calibration NoiseXTerminator StarXTerminator Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch on both the stars and starless images HDRMultiScaleTransform on Starless PixelMath to recombine the images

Date: April 14, 8686 ]]> https://sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Nebulae/M8-Lagoon-Nebula&image=NGC-6523-Lagoon-Nebula.jpg Mon, 22 Sep 2025 19:04:46 -0300 https://sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Nebulae/M8-Lagoon-Nebula&image=M8-Lagoon-Nebula-and-M20-Trifid-Nebula.jpg M8 Lagoon Nebula and M20 Trifid Nebula.
Exposure 22 sub frames @60 sec
ISO 1250
Camera Nikon D800 [7360 x 4912]
Optics Nikkor 80-400 mm at 240 mm f/5.6 on a Star Watcher Star Adventurer equitorial mount.
Location Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia.
Date 2017-07-27
Processing Processed in PixInsight and Lightroom.

Date: March 26, 2025 ]]> https://sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Nebulae/M8-Lagoon-Nebula&image=M8-Lagoon-Nebula-and-M20-Trifid-Nebula.jpg Wed, 06 Jun 2018 09:39:14 -0300 https://sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Nebulae/M8-Lagoon-Nebula&image=M8_Lagoon_Nebula.jpg M8 Lagoon Nebula.
Exposure 24@30 sec
ISO 6400
Camera Nikon D800 [7360 x 4912]
Optics Prime focus of a 10" Meade SCT f/10, 2500 mm focal length on a Celestron CGEM DX mount.
Location St. Croix Observatory, Nova Scotia.
Date 2018-09-01
Processing Processed in PixInsight and Lightroom.

Date: March 26, 2025 ]]> https://sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Nebulae/M8-Lagoon-Nebula&image=M8_Lagoon_Nebula.jpg Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:34:58 -0300