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The Trifid Nebula (M20), one of the most spectacular optical nebulae, is trisected by obscuring dust lanes. This nebula is located at a distance of 5,400 light years in the Sagittarius spiral arm and is powered by a cluster of hot stars. These regions are denser than the space surrounding them, and will slowly be eroded by the interstellar medium where they reside. This image shows details of a small region in the bottom left corner of the entire optical nebula. A number of features are noted in this image. A semi-circular shaped dust cloud is illuminated by the radiation from the central stars of the nebula, located toward the top right of the image. Another remarkable feature is a long narrow jet extending to the upper right hand part of the image. It is thought that an embedded, young stellar object at the base of the jet spews giant pillars of hot gas into the interstellar space surrounding it.
(Courtesy of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope)
References:
http://www.seds.org/billa/twn/n6514x.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950723.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000328.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/282/5388/462
Animation of Contrast