One of the most popular deep-sky objects is The Trifid Nebula (M20 / NGC 6514). It is an emission nebula that shines with both a reddish and bluish hue. It is an example of a emission nebula (red Halpha), a reflection nebula (blue), and a dark nebula. The name is derived from the appearance of three lobes. It is 42 light years across and located Scutum-Centaurus Arm of the Milky Way some 4,000 to 5,000 light years away. You can find it above the lid of the Sagittarius teapot with an apparent magnitude of 6.3 and a diameter of 28 arc minutes.
With a wide field telescope, it is possible to capture the Trifid Nebula along with its “neighbor”, the Lagoon Nebula (M8). Not too far away are two other interesting nebulae, the Eagle Nebula (M16) and the Omega/Swan Nebula (M17). Don’t forget to include Webb’s Cross (M21), which is in the same area of the sky. These are all great visual targets found low in the southern horizon during the summer months.
A few images have been captured by FAS members. Notice, in particular, the two on the left recently posted by Lewis Weinstock and Joe Haberthier. You can find more images like these on our FAS Astrophotography page.
Images by Lewis Weinstock, Joe Haberthier, and Bruce Gavett.
Left two Images by Lewis Weinstock and Joe Haberthier downloaded from Telescopius (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Some images processed in PixInsight (Pleiades Astrophoto S.L.)
Some images processed in Siril (C. Richard et al., Journal of Open Source Software, 2024, 9(102), 7242. DOI: 10.21105/joss.07242)
Not to be out done, the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory has also published an image of the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae. Well, what can we say, with 3200 megapixels, the Rubin Observatory out shines us all.
- “Trifid Nebula (Messier 20).” Constellation Guide. September 7, 2024.
- Trevor Jones. “The Trifid Nebula.” AstoBackyard.
- “101 Must-See Cosmic Objects: The Trifid Nebula.” Astronomy Magazine. January 2022 Issue. September 30, 2022. Updated September 11, 2023.
- Bruce McClure. “See Messier 20, the Trifid nebula.” EarthSky. August 17, 2022.
- “Messier 20.” NASA.
- “Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae.” Rubin Observatory First Look, Rubin Observatory.
- “First Images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. FAS News. July 7, 2025.
- “Vera Rubin (The Astronomer & An Observatory).” FAS Astronomers Blog. June 2025.
- “Vera C. Rubin Observatory.“
- “Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8).” Constellation Guide. September 5, 2023.
- “Eagle Nebula – Messier 16.” Constellation Guide. August 26, 2023.
- “Omega Nebula – Messier 17.” Constellation Guide. August 23, 2024.
- “Messier 21.” Messier Objects. April 15, 2025.
Find more interesting objects in the night sky by season.
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