Pan over the Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula is located four to five thousand light-years away towards the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). The nebula is a giant interstellar cloud, 100 light-years across, where stars are forming. The scattered dark patches seen all over the nebula are huge clouds of gas and dust that are collapsing under their own weight and will soon give birth to clusters of young glowing stars. This video pans over the image of the Lagoon Nebula taken with the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.