Astronomy Picture of the Day

APOD — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:23:27 GMT

Astronomy Picture of the Day

05 June 2023

In the Center of the Trifid Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

What's happening at the center of the Trifid Nebula? Three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear near the bottom, while other dark filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow. The Trifid, cataloged as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulas known. The star forming nebula lies about 9,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). The region pictured here spans about 20 light years.

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Posted manually due to troubles at NASA API (503)

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