Lagoon Nebula // Blue

Step up the ambience of your space with this incredible collection of canvas art prints - with a twist. Each one has color-coordinating LEDs built into the backside of the canvas, creating a surreal, ethereal outer glow that adds a soft illumination to the room, makes the art visible even in the dark, and also makes it appear lit from the inside out.

This Hubble telescope snapshot unveils a pair of one-half, light-year-long interstellar "twisters" – eerie funnels and twisted-rope structures [upper left] – in the heart of the Lagoon Nebula (M8) which lies 5,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

The hot, central star, O Herschel 36 [upper left], is the primary source of the illuminating light for the brightest region in the nebula, called the Hourglass. The glare from this hot star is eroding the clouds by heating the hydrogen gas in them [seen as a blue "mist" at the right of the image]. This activity drives away violent stellar winds that are tearing into the cool clouds.