Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On May 12, 2011 @ 11:01 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in colorful contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy
[1]
A Beautiful Trifid
Image Credit & Copyright [2]: R Jay Gabany [3]
Explanation: The beautiful Trifid Nebula [4] is a cosmic study [5] in colorful contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years [6] away toward the nebula rich [7] constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid illustrates three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae [8] dominated by light emitted by hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae [9] produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae [10] where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. The bright red emission region, roughly separated into three parts by obscuring, dark dust lanes, lends the Trifid its popular name. In this well met scene [11], the red emission is also juxtaposed with the telltale blue haze of reflection nebulae. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left of the emission nebula’s center, appear in Hubble Space Telescope close-up images [12] of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across.
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [13]
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/05/12/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-69/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ngc6514_gabany.jpg
[2] Copyright: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
[3] R Jay Gabany: http://www.cosmotography.com/index.html
[4] Trifid Nebula: http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m020.html
[5] cosmic study: http://www.cosmotography.com/images/cosmic_nurseries.html
[6] 5,000 light-years: http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/5000lys.html
[7] nebula rich: http://www.seds.org/messier/map/Sgr.html
[8] emission nebulae: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080424.html
[9] reflection nebulae: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090521.html
[10] dark nebulae: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090522.html
[11] this well met scene: http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_ngc6514.html
[12] close-up images: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071226.html
[13] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
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