Messier 20

This image shows the Trifid Nebula M20, a cloud of gas surrounding a star-forming region. It is a 3-color composite of 3 black-and-white photographic plates taken with the 3.9-meter Anglo Australian Telescope and different emulsions and filters, exposed as follows: Blue 35 minutes on Kodak IIa-O with GG 385 filter, Green 30 minutes on IIa-D/GG 495, Red 30 minutes on 098-04/OG 610. Its components, an ionized red emission nebula 40 light-yeras in diameter, and a blue reflection nebula are nicely visible, together with an appealing system of conspicuous dark nebulae, obscuring the light from regions behind them.

This image is copyrighted by the Australian Astronomical Observatory; see their usage policy.

Unsharp masked and enhanced version of the same image

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Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: April 19, 1998