Explore The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius | Hubble Space Telescope

Explore The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius | Hubble Space Telescope

“Fly” through the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s view of the Trifid Nebula. The video “floats” over the ridges of gas and dust and moves up toward Herbig-Haro 399 at the top of a brown cloud that resembles a head with horns. The thinner, irregular line pointing left formed from the ejections of an actively forming star. To its left is a small, faint pillar. Much of this pillar’s gas and dust has been blown away, but the densest material at the top persists.

The Trifid Nebula (cataloged as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region in the northwest of the Sagittarius constellation 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, a reflection nebula, and a dark nebula.

The colors in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope tell a story about density in the Trifid Nebula, a star-forming region about 5,000 light-years from Earth. The top left, where it is bright blue, has the smallest amount of dust. Here, powerful ultraviolet light stripped electrons from nearby gas, creating a glow, with winds creating a bubble by clearing out surrounding dust. An example of active cloud destruction is toward the top of the head-shaped area with two “horns.” Bright yellow gas streams upward where gas and dust are being destroyed.

Thicker dust appears dark brown, like mud. In the far-right corner, nearly pitch black, the dust is the densest. Fully formed stars (bright orange orbs) are scattered across the scene. Their light and stellar winds have also cleared the immediate areas around them.

Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, Leah Hustak (STScI), Christian Nieves (STScI). Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI). Contributors: Subaru Telescope, R. Gendler. Acknowledgement: G. Bacon (STScI), J. Muzerolle (STScI), F. Summers (STScI)
Duration: 45 seconds
Release Date: April 20, 2026

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