APOD: 2020 February 13 - Spitzer s Trifid

Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Spitzer's Trifid." NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was launched on August 25, 2003 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Base. Based on its detection of different wavelengths of infrared light, Spitzer enabled us to see an optically invisible universe dominated by dust and stars. The Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is about 30 light-years across and 5,500 light-years distant in the constellation Sagittarius. This infrared image from Spitzer allows us to recognize newborn and embryonic stars which otherwise lie hidden in this stellar nursery.