Irish astronomer Agnes M. Clerke coined the nickname “the Lagoon Nebula” in her 1890 book The System of the Stars. When we set our sights on M8, our gaze is taking us some 4,100 light-years away.

One such nebula, the Lagoon Nebula, is visible with binoculars or small telescopes and is best seen in August. Here’s what it is and how to find it.

The Lagoon Nebula (M8) is just one of more than 100 objects on Messier’s famous list that you can try to catch in a single night this week. Credit: Joel Tonyan (Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) ...

This stunning nebula is best seen around 3 A.M. local daylight time, when it stands 25° high in the south. The Lagoon lies within the diffuse, cloudy glow of the plane of the Milky Way.