Astronomy Picture of the Day - Nebulas and Clusters in Sagittarius

NASA ^ | 17 Sep, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: J. De Winter, C. Humbert, C. Robert & V. Sabet; Text: Ogetay Kayali (MTU)

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: Can you spot famous celestial objects in this image? 18th-century astronomer Charles Messier cataloged only two of them: the bright Lagoon Nebula (M8) at the bottom, and the colorful Trifid Nebula (M20) at the upper right. The one on the left that resembles a cat's paw is NGC 6559, and it is much fainter than the other two. Even harder to spot are the thin blue filaments on the left, from supernova remnant (SNR G007.5-01.7). Their glow comes from small amounts of glowing oxygen atoms that are so faint that it took over 17 hours of exposure with just one blue color to bring up. Framing this scene of stellar birth and death are two star clusters: the open cluster M21 just above Trifid, and the globular cluster NGC 6544 at lower left.

[MtnClimber]

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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.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[DannyTN]

Looks like a murder scene.

[econjack]

What blows me away is that the Trifid Nebula (M20) in the upper right would take 40 years to traverse traveling at the speed of light! I can’t wrap my head around the size of the Universe or the concept of an infinite Universe.

[No name given]

Wow.

[Big Red Badger]

Yikes!

[MtnClimber]

Looks like a murder scene.

The Chalk Outline Nebula

[Fungi]

So true. One pastor once said to me:”If the universe stops, what's on the other side?” That stuck with me all my life.
Deut. 29:29: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

With all the billions of stars in the universe: Psalm 147:4: He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.
Who can fathom omniscience or infinite space? Our God is beyond comprehension.

[doorgunner69]

Major fireworks way back when that blew.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Gorgeous!

[telescope115]

It’s beautiful.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Looks like a murder scene.

I see a roaring lion.....Aslan?