The beautiful Trifid
Nebula is a cosmic
study in colorful contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away
toward the nebula rich
constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the
Trifid illustrates three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light emitted by hydrogen
atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust
reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense
dust clouds appear in silhouette. The bright red emission region, roughly
separated into three parts by obscuring, dark dust lanes, lends the Trifid its
popular name. In this well met
scene, the red emission is also juxtaposed with the telltale blue haze of
reflection nebulae. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left
of the emission nebula's center, appear in Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is
about 40 light-years across.
I saw a picture of this object way back in the early 70's when I was in elementary school, it was one of the things that made me want to study astronomy... Of course the picture then was nothing like this.
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