Trifid Nebula (M20)

Trifid Nebula (M20) — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Trifid Nebula (M20) in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

Dark lanes of dust split its glowing red heart into three lobes, which gave it its name. The blue glow to the north is starlight scattered by dust. From Earth’s side it matches ESO’s image; fly round it to see its 3D shape, which is a model.

Type

Star-forming nebula: glowing gas, reflecting dust and dark lanes in one

Distance

About 4,100 light-years

Size

About 34 light-years across

Lit by

HD 164492A, a hot young star over 20 times the Sun’s mass

Shown here

ESO’s image, stars removed, on one continuous 3D volume: from Earth it matches the image; from elsewhere a glowing bubble with its dust lanes in front and the blue reflecting cloud behind to the north

3D shape

Illustrative, after Lefloch et al. 2008 and Rho et al. 2008: the lanes lie on the near side, the reflection nebula on the far side; the lanes’ shapes and darkness from the image

Image credit

ESO · CC BY 4.0

Explore Trifid Nebula (M20) in 3D

Trifid Nebula (M20) is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.