Hubble serves up two views of Lagoon Nebula
April 19 (UPI) -- The Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 28th anniversary with a double portrait of the Lagoon Nebula, a giant, oft-photographed interstellar cloud.The juxtaposed images, released Thursday by NASA, showcase the emissions nebula in two different spectral bands: one in visible light and the other rendered in near-infrared.The visible-light image showcases the nebula's gas and dust, while the near-infrared photograph reveals the multitude of stars found within.The two images reveal the two ingredients that make nebulas what they are: star-forming material and stars.Gas and dust are essentials to stellar formation, and as they fuel the formation of new stars, stellar winds contort the surrounding star-forming materials into a variety of textures and shapes -- nobs, columns, ...