Detail View: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection: The Trifid Nebula in Stars and Dust
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Title:
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The Trifid Nebula in Stars and Dust
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Explanation:
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Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Trifid Nebula [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m020.html ]. Also known as M20, this photogenic nebula [ http://www.cosmotography.com/images/lrg_m20.html ] is visible [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011229.html ] with good binoculars towards the constellation [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/constellations.html ] of Sagittarius [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Sagittarius.html ]. The energetic processes of star formation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030816.html ] create not only the colors but the chaos [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_%28physics%29 ]. The red-glowing gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980828.html ] results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen [ http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/1.html ] gas. The dark dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ] filaments [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010928.html ] that lace M20 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970828.html ] were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars [ http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/workx/starlife/StarpageS_26M.html ] and in the debris [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990803.html ] from supernovae [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/supernovae.html ] explosions. Which bright young stars light up the blue reflection nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/reflection_nebulae.html ] is still being investigated [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1986AJ.....92.1125L ]. The light from M20 [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0587.html ] we see today left perhaps 3000 years ago, although the exact distance remains unknown. Light takes about 50 years to cross M20 [ http://www.seds.org/billa/twn/n6514x.html ].
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Credit and Copyright:
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R. Jay GaBany [ http://www.cosmotography.com/images/biography.html ] (Cosmotography.com [ http://www.cosmotography.com/ ])
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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facet_what:
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LACE
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original url:
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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070813.html
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap070813
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