M20, The Trifid Nebula

What we see as the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius is actually two, two, two nebulae in one! The northern blue part is dust illuminated by nearby hot blue stars, while the pink portion glows mainly from the fluorescence of ionized hydrogen and oxygen. The dark shapes dividing the "trifid"  into petals are intervening veins of dark, opaque dust.

This shot with the 92mm scope is the best closeup of this object I've managed yet. The open star cluster M21 can be seen in the upper left.


Image copyright by Joe Bergeron.