礁湖星云中的星际云，由哈勃太空望远镜拍摄 Interstellar clouds in the Lagoon Nebula, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (© ESA/NASA)

礁湖星云中的星际云，由哈勃太空望远镜拍摄 Interstellar clouds in the Lagoon Nebula, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (© ESA/NASA)

从前有一颗星星 Once upon a star

礁湖星云

宇宙生机勃勃，生生不息。图中的礁湖星云中，一个名为NGC 6530的星团正在孕育新生恒星，这光芒提醒着我们，宇宙的起源早已交织其中。它距离我们约4350光年，已有数百万年历史，目前仍处于恒星形成的早期阶段。

礁湖星云，在梅西耶星表中名列第八，简称M8，是一个位于南天人马座的发射星云（也可称之为电离氢区）。在NGC用表中排名6523，又称NGC 6523。这个星云是许多天文爱好者十分熟悉并且喜爱的天体之一，也是天文摄影的热门目标天体。礁湖星云充满炽热气体，是许多年轻恒星的家园，因其中心左侧的数道尘埃带而获得了礁湖星云的别名。

Carl Sagan Day

The universe hums with creation. Featured here, in the Lagoon Nebula, a cluster called NGC 6530 is kindling newborn stars, a glowing reminder that beginnings are woven into the fabric of the cosmos. About 4,350 light-years away and a few million years old, it is a stellar formation still in its earliest chapter.

The world celebrates Carl Sagan Day every November 9 to honor the astronomer who shared distant wonders through stories people could understand. Founded in 2009, the day is observed worldwide, marked by lectures, planetarium shows, and stargazing nights that carry Sagan's call for scientific curiosity.

Carl Sagan's legacy stretches from NASA's Voyager missions and the Golden Record to his Cosmos television series, inspiring millions to see science as both reason and a source of endless possibilities. At Cornell University, home to the Carl Sagan Institute, his vision continues through the search for habitable worlds and the celebration of cosmic discovery. In the night sky, NGC 6530 offers a fitting tribute: a nursery of suns forming within clouds of gas and dust, echoing Sagan's reminder that 'We are made of star stuff.'