by of Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia. It lies near the center of the constellation. It reached a peak magnitude of 4.3 before steadily fading. Deep-sky objects The Milky Way is at its densest near Sagittarius, as this is where the Galactic Center lies. As a result, Sagittarius contains many star clusters and nebulae. Star clouds Sagittarius contains two well-known star clouds, both considered fine binocular objects. The Large Sagittarius Star Cloud is the brightest visible region of the Milky Way. It is a portion of the central bulge of the galaxy seen around the thick dust of the Great Rift, and is the innermost galactic structure that can be observed in visible wavelengths. It has several embedded clusters and superimposed dark nebulae. The Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, also known as Messier 24, has an apparent magnitude of 2.5. The cloud fills a space of significant volume to a depth of 10,000 to 16,000 light-years. Embedded in M24 is NGC 6603, a small star cluster that is very dense. NGC 6567, a dim planetary nebula, and Barnard 92, a Bok globule, are also nearby. Nebulae Sagittarius contains several well-known nebulae, including the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8), near λ Sagittarii; the Omega Nebula (Messier 17), near the border with Scutum; and the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20), a large nebula containing some very young, hot stars. The Lagoon Nebula (M8) is an emission nebula that is located 5,000 light-years from Earth and measures 140 light-years by 60 light-years (1.5°). Though it appears grey in telescopes to the unaided eye, long-exposure photographs reveal its pink hue, common to emission nebulae. It is fairly bright, with an integrated magnitude of 3.0. The Lagoon Nebula was discovered independently by John Flamsteed in 1680, Guillaume Le Gentil in 1747, and Charles Messier in 1764. The central area of the Lagoon Nebula is also known as the Hourglass Nebula, so named for its distinctive shape. The Hourglass Nebula has its shape because of matter propelled by Herschel 36. The Lagoon Nebula also features three dark nebulae catalogued in Barnard's Catalog. The Lagoon Nebula was instrumental in the discovery of Bok globules, as Bart Bok studied prints of the nebula intensively in 1947. Approximately 17,000 Bok globules were discovered in the nebula nine years later as a part of the Palomar Sky Survey; studies later showed that Bok's hypothesis that the globules held protostars was correct. The Omega Nebula