The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius

The complex cloud displays an unusual combination of both red emission and blue reflection areas as well as numerous intricate dark patterns. The nebula is located 9000 light years away in the direction towards the galactic centre. The entire area is sprinkled with thousands of stars and fainter dusty and nebulous areas throughout. A separate prominent dark cloud appears dramatically silhouetted against the starry background to the right.

A curious example of gas evaporation can bee seen near the core of the Trifid itself. Here a dense stalk, 8 light years from the centre, is emerging from the edge of the bubble surrounding the central cluster, and in the other direction a powerful stellar jet from a young star, HH 399 embedded in the gas, is shooting out in an upwards direction. The bright young stars in the central cluster emit strong radiation which eats away the surrounding gas and dust. The stalk only appears because a denser region lies at its very tip and protects a thin strip of the cloud from this interstellar erosion. The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged this fascinating area in high resolution: http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/.../hs-2004-17-a-print.jpg.

Throughout the nebula lies countless young T Tauri stars just having emerged from their birthplaces inside the gas and dust. These are typically rather faint and reddish, though they are more easily visible in this image of another stellar nursery near Antares

Image details:
Date: May - September 2020
Exposure: HaLRGB: 270:916:190:190:195 mins, total 29 hours 21 mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 and 3nm H-Alpha
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand See Less

Copyright: Rolf Wahl Olsen