From the August 2007 issue

Stephen James O’Meara’s secret sky: The secret Lagoon

August 2007: M8 is a bright ornament in the naked-eye Milky Way and was likely seen by many ancient skywatchers in their casual scans of the heavens.
By | Published: August 1, 2007 | Last updated on May 18, 2023
On July nights, the Milky Way’s oval hub dominates the south celestial landscape. Most magnificent is the flood of starlight between the tip of the Scorpion’s tail and Sobieski’s Shield (Scutum).

If you sweep your eyes along this milky trail, you’ll find that it swells in brilliance near the spout of the famous Teapot asterism in Sagittarius. Here, dense pools of stellar mist mingle with dark veins of dust toward the galactic center.