Astronomy Picture Of The Day Explore the cosmos Every day, a new image or photograph of the fascinating universe is presented along with a short explanation by an astronomer. 2021 August 12A Beautiful TrifidCopyright & Image Credit: Mike SelbyExplanation: The stunning Trifid Nebula, a cosmic study of contrasts, is breathtaking. It is also known as M20 and lies approximately 5,000 light years away from the Sagittarius nebula rich constellation. The Trifid is a star-forming region in our galaxy's plane. It illustrates three types of astronomical nubulae: red emission nebulae that are dominated by hydrogen atoms; blue reflection nebulae that reflect starlight and dark nebulae in which dense dust clouds form in silhouette. The Trifid's red emission region is roughly divided into three parts by hiding dust lanes. This is how it got its name. In famous Hubble Space Telescope close up images of the region, you can see jets and pillars created by newborn stars. About 40 light-years in diameter, the Trifid Nebula measures. It is almost as large as a full moon in the sky of planet Earth, but it is too faint to be easily seen.
