before , An illustrated sky chart shows the night sky facing southward around 9:30 pm in August. The Location of the Lagoon Nebula is circled below center. Below and to the right is the constellation Scorpius, and to its left is the Teapot asterism.
after , An illustrated sky chart shows a zoomed-in view of the sky similar to what binoculars would reveal. Most of the scene is occupied by the star patter, or asterism, known as The Teapot. The Lagoon Nebula appears above the Teapot star pattern. A dashed line passes across the scene from the teapot handle, past the top of its lid, to the nebula, as an indication of how to locate the nebula.