Astronomy Picture of the Day -- In the Center of the Trifid Nebula

NASA ^ | October 11, 2015 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Clouds of glowing gas mingle with dust lanes in the Trifid Nebula, a star forming region toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). In the center, the three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear on the right, 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, also known as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulae known. The nebula lies about 9,000 light years away and the part pictured here spans about 10 light years. The above image is a composite with luminance taken from an image by the 8.2-m ground-based Subaru Telescope, detail provided by the 2.4-m orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, color data provided by Martin Pugh and image assembly and processing provided by Robert Gendler.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Martin Pugh; Processing: Robert Gendler]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

join or quit list APoD 'blog post new APoD topic Astronomy Picture of the Day topic & keyword Astronomy Chat, Bloggers & keyword Science Chat, Bloggers & keyword NASA's APoD archive Calendar 1995-present APoD on your desktop

[Patton@Bastogne]

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The Day Of The Triffids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or3ygBd56gg

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[left that other site]

Beat Me To It!

[samtheman]

Thanks for posting that. I read the book as a kid but never saw the movie.

[dragnet2]

Just going through some of the APOD stuff you put up.

I shot M20 Trifid Nebula last month while testing some setting in post processing. I'll be reprocessing this data soon to bring out more detail.