File:Parallel Lagoon (40922016974).png

English: Hubble's recent 28th anniversary observations also included some parallel observations which were not part of the photo release. I'm totally here for that.

In this image, reddish, orange light represents mostly gaseous emission of energized hydrogen atoms, and muted, blueish gray areas are largely reflected starlight. This combination of light results in an image quality I am very fond of, but I must confess it took me a very long time to understand it beyond oooh, pretty. Once one understands that parts of the clouds are emitting light, while other parts are simply reflecting light, the shapes and coloration begin to make more sense. They are not very different in some ways from water clouds seen on Earth, but our water clouds are most frequently seen reflecting the Sun's light, and not ever emitting their own light.

Interestingly, there are only two filters available to work with for the parallel observations. I wrongly guessed that the same filters used in the primary observations would end up being used in parallel. I don't know why.

The proposal for these data is here: Optical and infrared imaging of the Lagoon Nebula (M8)

Orange: ACS/WFC F658N Cyan: ACS/WFC F550M

North is merely 1.05° counter-clockwise from up.