Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - A Beautiful Trifid
NASA ^ | 9 Jul, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Cipolat Bares

Posted on 07/09/2025 12:30:52 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in 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 does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. But, the red emission region roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes is what lends the Trifid its popular name. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, above and right of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across. Too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, in this deep telescopic view it almost covers the area of a full moon on planet Earth's sky.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 07/09/2025 12:30:52 PM PDT by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 07/09/2025 12:31:11 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 07/09/2025 12:32:18 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Wow.


4 posted on 07/09/2025 12:32:24 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

5 posted on 07/09/2025 12:34:05 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

It’s like a jewel set in a wire filament.


6 posted on 07/09/2025 12:34:32 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

It looks like a blue cheese burger.


7 posted on 07/09/2025 12:35:25 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Beat me to it.


8 posted on 07/09/2025 12:48:32 PM PDT by Fai Mao ( All Democrats are pedophiles )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Here :D


9 posted on 07/09/2025 1:56:22 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

40 light years across and still just a speck in the universe.


10 posted on 07/09/2025 5:34:38 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Making money now. Still want much more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson