Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                               2020 November 1

                     In the Center of the Trifid Nebula
    Image Credit: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Martin
                      Pugh; Processing: Robert Gendler

   Explanation: What's happening at the center of the Trifid Nebula? Three
   prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together.
   Mountains of opaque dust appear near the bottom, while other dark
   filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single
   massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow.
   The Trifid, cataloged as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making
   it among the youngest emission nebulas known. The star forming nebula
   lies about 9,000 light years away toward the constellation of the
   Archer (Sagittarius). The region pictured here spans about 10 light
   years. The featured image is a composite with luminance taken from an
   image by the 8.2-m ground-based Subaru Telescope, detail provided by
   the 2.4-m orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, color data provided by
   Martin Pugh and image assembly and processing provided by Robert
   Gendler.

                   Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
                   Tomorrow's picture: half prominent sun
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