The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible near the image center, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. A tremendously bright nearby star, Herschel 36, lights the area. Vast walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. As energy from these stars pours into the cool dust and gas, large temperature differences in adjoining regions can be created generating shearing winds which may cause the funnels. This picture, spanning about 10 light years, combines images taken in six colors by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, lies about 5000 light years distant toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius).?

瀉湖星云的中心是一個(gè)壯觀的恒星形成旋風(fēng)。在圖像中心附近可以看到，至少有兩個(gè)漏斗狀的長云，每個(gè)大約半光年長，是由極端的恒星風(fēng)和強(qiáng)烈的高能星光形成的。附近一顆非常明亮的恒星赫歇爾36號照亮了這一地區(qū)。巨大的塵埃墻掩蓋了其他熾熱的年輕恒星并使其變紅。當(dāng)這些恒星的能量注入冷塵埃和氣體時(shí)，相鄰區(qū)域會產(chǎn)生巨大的溫差，產(chǎn)生切變風(fēng)，可能導(dǎo)致漏斗。這張照片跨度約10光年，結(jié)合了哈勃太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡在軌道上拍攝的六種顏色的圖像。瀉湖星云也被稱為M8，距離射手座約5000光年。