The Trifid Nebula (also known as Messier 20 and NGC 6514) is an H-II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1750. The nebula's name means "divided into three lobes" due to the appearance of three bright lobes separated by dark dust lanes. The Trifid Nebula, which is an emission nebula as well as a reflection one, it shows an apparent brightness of 6.3 magnitudes. Estimated age is 300,000 years, making it an area of extremely young star formation.

Messier 20 is one of the major gaseous nebulae in the region of Sagittarius, is close to the Lagoon Nebula (M8). In the center of the Trifid nebula can be seen the core of the open cluster Collinder 360 (C1759-230), whose dominant HD164492A star, a blue dwarf star of spectral type O. Along with HD164492A, in a circle of 15" radio, there are at least 6 stars less bright probably younger. At the heart of the nebula have been discovered numerous young stellar objects, protoplanetary disks and Herbig-Haro. Among them, the notable HH399 is located at the head of a pillar of dust photoevaporated by ionizing radiation from the star HD164492A.

This picture was taken for 10 minutes through a 6 inch telescope on 2010-10-15.

by David E. G. on 2010-10-15 13:38:19 [Original Size] - [Next Image] - [Author's gallery]