Posted on 11/01/2020 3:47:54 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: 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 10 light years. The featured 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.
Pinging the APOD list.
So THAT’S where the Trifids are from! :-)
Trifid Nebula; Something Elon Musk would name his next son after.
The stars are tiny in size in comparison to the nebula.
The spikes in the middle a bit down probably have stars at the tips forming.

Makes my Trifid look pretty cheesy. I need a bigger budget.
That is a really nice photo!
Does anyone else see two giant aliens smooching in the lower center of the photo, the two dust/gas clouds just touching noses? Kind of like seeing pictures in Earthly cloud formations.
I see a boxer dog kissing a cat.
I know right!
I knew they were real!
And in the pic, you can see contrails from their invasion ships as they’re building up their fleets to come claim this land again for themselves!
Uh Oh.
Thanks for posting!
Astronomical Rorschach test!
I see a blue and white Pansy. There is a long haired doughty insect like man climbing up a perch. He has a couple of antennae or horns poking up through his shaggy hair. There is a griffin with its head turned toward him.
There is a floating tube in the back ground best described as a tube.
(I have seen enough. Sticking with the flower! Moving on!)
From the SciFi movie, “The Day of the Trifids”!!
Of course, you can only see Trifids at night!..................
True Dat.
I'm pretty sure that is a blue reflection type nebula.
I should know that, but I don’t. I believe it’s just considered part of Trifid.
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