IR/visible crossfade of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8)

This video fades back and forth between views of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) in visible and infrared light. The visible light view comes from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla in Chile and the new infrared view from the VISTA telescope at Paranal. In the infrared view the glowing gas clouds are much less prominent and the obscuration of the dust less significant. A whole host of cool red stars that are otherwise invisible can be seen.