Celestial Objects
Trifid Nebula
Nebulae
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The Trifid Nebula, catalogued as Messier 20, is an H II region in a star-forming part of the Milky Way's Scutum-Centaurus Arm, in the northwest of the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on 5 June 1764, and its name, meaning three-lobed, describes the dark dust lanes that divide it; it is an unusual combination of an open star cluster together with emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity all in one object, and a perennial favorite of amateur observers.
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