Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sagittarius (Sgr)  ·  Contains:  M 20  ·  NGC 6514  ·  Trifid nebula
M20, The Trifid Nebula, mads0100
M20, The Trifid Nebula
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M20, The Trifid Nebula

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Description

The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764.[3] Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifurcated appearance; these are also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.

I saw someone posting a picture of it and gave it a run to see how my narrowband filters were working with the new camera. However, I didn't realize that it was very limited at my latitude! Here is a stack of 5 x 600sec through Ha. Nothing amazing, but quite a bit of detail for how little exposure I have. My focus was definitely off as well as the FWHM is closer to 3-4 on this image... hence why I cropped the majority of the image.

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M20, The Trifid Nebula, mads0100