Trifid Nebula M20

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The Trifid Nebula M20 is an H II region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way’s Scutum-Centaurus Arm. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. Its name means ‚three-lobe‘.
The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the relatively dense, reddish-pink portion), a reflection nebula (the mainly blue portion), and a dark nebula (the apparent ‚gaps‘ in the former that cause the tri furcated appearance, also designated Barnard 85).