A Sagittarius Triplet
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh Explanation: These three bright nebulae are often featured in telescopic tours of the constellation
Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the
central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic tourist
Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula left of center, and colorful M20 on the right. The third,
NGC 6559, is above M8, separated from the larger nebula by a dark dust lane. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant. The expansive M8, over a hundred light-years across, is also known as the
Lagoon Nebula. M20's popular moniker is
the Trifid. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae, with contrasting blue hues, most striking in the Trifid, due to dust
reflected starlight. This broad skyscape also includes one of Messier's open star clusters,
M21, just above and right of the Trifid.
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