The Trifid Nebula is full of color, but its beauty also owes to the lack of color, which creates stark contrast
The Trifid Nebula is full of color, but its beauty also owes to the lack of color, which creates stark contrast.
Bright regions of gas are both reflecting starlight and in some cases heated
to the point that the gas emits its own light. Lanes of dust add subtle shades
and sometimes simply block light.
The nebula is estimated to be 9,000 light-years away, but the distance is uncertain. At its center is a star several times the mass of the Sun. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the star ionizes the gas (stripping electrons from atoms) and heats the dust.
This picture was obtained by Jean-Charles Cuillandre using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. It shows just an edge of the much-photographed object.
To see the entire Trifid Nebula, see this ground-based image or this Hubble photo.
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope / J.-C. Cuillandre /
Coelum
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