When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.The Lagoon Nebula photographed glowing in the constellation Sagittarius. | Credit: Noah GylesAmateur astrophotographer Noah Gyles has shared a stunningly detailed view of the Lagoon Nebula, captured as it glowed 5,200 light-years from Earth in the skies above Rockwell, Texas.Gyles’ colorful image reveals intricate detail in the vast interstellar cloud of dust and hydrogen gas, which has been ionized by the intense ultraviolet radiation from the population of hot, young stars embedded within the nebula, causing it to glow with its own light.AdvertisementAdvertisement”I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so I often drive about an hour outside the city to escape the light pollution,” Gyles told Space.com in an email. “Since I wait for nights that are both moonless and cloudless, I don’t get nearly as many chances to image as I’d like, but It never gets old seeing a camera reveal nebulae and galaxies in parts of the sky that look completely empty to the naked eye.”Gyles captured 60×5-minute exposures of the Lagoon Nebula on the nights of July 18 and 19 2025 using an Askar FRA500 telescope and ZWO astronomy camera, in conjunction with a set of narrowband astronomy filters. “This was one of the first targets I chose after upgrading my equipment,” explained Gyles. “I had imaged it before, but I wanted to revisit it using narrowband filters, which isolate specific wavelengths of light emitted by nebulae.”Lagoon Nebula coordinatesRight ascension: 18h 3mAdvertisementAdvertisementDeclination: -24° 22′Over six hours of light data was then carefully combined and edited to reveal the incredible complexity of the vast star-forming region. “The first five-minute exposure already showed more detail than I was expecting,” said Gyles. “After stacking all 60 frames, I was amazed by the amount of structure and faint detail in the nebula.”The Lagoon Nebula is best viewed in the months surrounding August and is one of the few star-forming regions bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, appearing as a faint blur of light that becomes more prominent through a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, according to NASA.How to find the Lagoon Nebula above the southern horizon. | Credit: Created by Anthony Wood in CanvaOne way to find the Lagoon Nebula is to identify the distinctive “Teapot” asterism in the constellation Sagittarius, whi …
