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Astronomy Picture of the Day 9-01-03
NASA ^ | 9-01-03 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

Posted on 08/31/2003 10:18:26 PM PDT by petuniasevan

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2003 September 1
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

A Beautiful Trifid
Credit & Copyright: Jim and Janet Castano, Adam Block, NOAO, AURA, NSF

Explanation: The beautiful Trifid Nebula (aka M20), a photogenic study in cosmic contrasts, 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 alone illustrates three basic types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark absorption nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. The bright emission nebula on the right, separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes, lends the nebula its popular name. Many details are apparent in this gorgeous high-resolution image of the Trifid. For example, light-year long pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars - visible here in the upper right-hand corner of the emission nebula - appear in Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: nebula; trifid
Trifid (M20) and its brighter neighbor Lagoon (M8) lie about 5000 light years distant toward the constellation Sagittarius.

Trifid Nebula (M20)

Right Ascension 18 : 02.6 (h:m)
Declination -23 : 02 (deg:m)
Distance 5.2 (kly)
Visual Brightness 9.0 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 28.0 (arc min)

Lagoon Nebula (M8)

Right Ascension 18 : 03.8 (h:m)
Declination -24 : 23 (deg:m)
Distance 5.2 (kly)
Visual Brightness 6.0 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 90x40 (arc min)

If you are not TOO far north (sorry RightWhale), you can observe these nebulae in summer. Binoculars will show them both unless your haze/light pollution is severe.

The following image is from the Digital Sky Survey. It includes the Trifid at the top and the Lagoon at the bottom.

Here is a deeper exposure in color, courtesy of the AAT:

Finder chart for the many interesting objects in Sagittarius:


1 posted on 08/31/2003 10:18:26 PM PDT by petuniasevan
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To: MozartLover; Joan912; NovemberCharlie; snowfox; Dawgsquat; viligantcitizen; theDentist; ...

2 posted on 08/31/2003 10:23:21 PM PDT by petuniasevan (I am Ahnold of Borg: You girly-men will be assimilated.)
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To: petuniasevan
Awesome!

Thank you.
3 posted on 08/31/2003 10:32:21 PM PDT by Soaring Feather
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To: petuniasevan
makes a beautiful desktop background
4 posted on 09/01/2003 5:21:11 AM PDT by fnord (Pronounced like it's spelled)
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To: petuniasevan
Good morning
thanks for the ping
5 posted on 09/01/2003 7:57:08 AM PDT by firewalk
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To: petuniasevan
I dunno, I never did trust them triffids.

Look, they came from outer space and ate people and there's always trouble with triffids, or something like that, and..........

you said "Trifid"? Nevermind :)

6 posted on 09/01/2003 11:56:32 AM PDT by xJones
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To: petuniasevan
Nice one. Thanks for the ping.
7 posted on 09/01/2003 5:13:20 PM PDT by sistergoldenhair (Don't be a sheep. People hate sheep. They eat sheep.)
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To: petuniasevan
I know it's a little late, but thanks for a beautiful post. You are appreciated.
8 posted on 09/03/2003 9:04:13 AM PDT by foolish-one
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