The Trifid Nebula

About This Photograph

Soaring through the constellation of Sagittarius in a dense, star-rich part of the Milky Way is the beautiful star-forming region known as the Trifid Nebula. Three nebula types are visible simultaneously. The large magenta area shines mainly by emission, caused when ultraviolet light from the very hot central stars ionizes the gasses in the cloud and causes them to glow in characteristic colors. To the left is a vast cloud of bluish dust that reflects the nearby starlight, and superimposed on the whole complex are clumps and filaments of denser gas and dust that absorb the light beyond and make themselves visible in silhouette.

Zooming in to the region just to the lower right of the central stars, there is a denser structure within the emission nebula that is actively forming stars. A long, thin jet extends out of this area, the exhaust gasses of a star just being born deep within.