                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 February 13

                              Spitzer's Trifid
            Image Credit: J. Rho (SSC/Caltech), JPL-Caltech, NASA

   Explanation: The Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to
   find with a small telescope. About 30 light-years across and 5,500
   light-years distant it's a popular stop for cosmic tourists in the
   nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. As its name suggests, visible
   light pictures show the nebula divided into three parts by dark,
   obscuring dust lanes. But this penetrating infrared image reveals the
   Trifid's filaments of glowing dust clouds and newborn stars. The
   spectacular false-color view is courtesy of the Spitzer Space
   Telescope. Astronomers have used the infrared image data to count
   newborn and embryonic stars which otherwise can lie hidden in the natal
   dust and gas clouds of this intriguing stellar nursery. Launched in
   2003, Spitzer explored the infrared Universe from an Earth-trailing
   solar orbit until its science operations were brought to a close
   earlier this year, on January 30.

                        Tomorrow's picture: pale blue
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

