Messier 20, Trifid Nebula, LRGB True Color

Messier 20, Trifid Nebula,Messier 20 known as the Trifid nebula, it lies about 5000 light years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. It is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulae known. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across and almost covers the area of a full moon in the sky. It is too faint to be seen unaided but can be seen with binoculars.  The Trifid  illustrates three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebula dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebula produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebula where dense dust clouds block the light. The red emission region is roughly separated into three parts by these obscuring dust clouds which lends the Trifid its popular name. New stars are being formed within these dark clouds of gas and dust.  The single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid’s glow. It causes the Hydrogen gas in the center to become excited to a high energy state and then drops back to its ground state by emitting the prominent red light in the image. The star’s light is also scattered by clouds of dust surrounding the center region giving it the bluish color. This image is a true color image taken with regular broadband color filters. A additional image can be seen by following the link below where the image is enhanced by light from atomic Hydrogen and Oxygen filters. They enhance both the red and blue portions of the image, respectively.Messier 20, Trifid Nebula, Combined LRGB & Narrowband