Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2024 July 4 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. A Beautiful Trifid Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Jesús Carmona Guillén Explanation: [5]The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic [6]study in contrasts. [7]Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the [8]nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red [9]emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue [10]reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and [11]dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. But the red emission region, roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes, is what lends the Trifid its [12]popular name. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, above and right of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space Telescope [13]close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across. Too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, it almost covers the area of a full moon on planet Earth's sky. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy, [31]Accessibility Notices A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC, [35]NASA Science Activation & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/TrifidrecortesRGB.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.instagram.com/fotografia_jesuscarmona/ 5. https://www.flickr.com/photos/182271718@N06/53805589566/ 6. https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/july-04/ 7. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-20/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130712.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080424.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090521.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090522.html 12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifid_Nebula 13. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/1999/42/915-Image.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240703.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240704 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240705.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 36. http://www.mtu.edu/