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Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
Explanation:
The beautiful Trifid Nebula,
also known as Messier 20, is easy
to
find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation
Sagittarius.
About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in
cosmic contrasts shares
this
well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with
open star cluster
Messier 21
(top right).
Trisected by dust lanes
the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and
a mere 300,000 years old.
That makes it one of the
youngest star forming
regions in our sky,
with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its
natal dust and gas clouds.
Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20's,
but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape
there is no apparent connection between the two.
In fact, M21's stars are much older, about 8 million
years old.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 20 - emission nebula - open cluster
Publications with words: M 20 - emission nebula - open cluster
See also:
- Open Star Clusters M35 and NGC 2158
- APOD: 2025 February 25 Á M41: The Little Beehive Star Cluster
- APOD: 2025 February 18 Á Thors Helmet versus the Seagull
- APOD: 2025 February 11 Á The Spider and the Fly
- APOD: 2024 December 17 Á Near to the Heart Nebula
- The Elephant s Trunk in Cepheus
- APOD: 2024 October 29 Á NGC 602: Stars Versus Pillars from Webb