The Trifid Nebula (M20, NGC 6514) and the open cluster M21.

 From the magnificent skies of the valleys of Coubertin, in the Observatory's Outdoor Corner the Chileans, the amateur Marcelo Caceres released its focal corrector with the Trifid Nebula (M20, NGC 6514) and the open cluster M21.

With simple equipment, a telescope Omni 150 and a computerized equatorial mount CG5, very well lined, fitted with a Canon EOS focal corrector took a picture of great beauty that left the audience amazed.

The Trifid nebula is a region rich in hydrogen gas where stars are being born, which ionize the gas in the vacuum of space making it highly incandescent. This is called an "H II region" and M20 is located in the Sagittarius Carina arm of our Milky Way, in the direction of Sagittarius. The bars which divide the cloud are dust-rich regions.

The image was taken on March 24, 2012, date on which the Trifid was visible after midnight. The object is in the sky the size of the Full Moon, but due to its low luminosity (magnitude 6.3) is not visible to the naked eye.

In the eyepiece of the telescope M20 looks like a cotton blue because we see with our eyes poles, cells capable of capturing low light but are insensitive to the colors and see everything in shades of blue. As we have no ability to accumulate photons until we arrived here.

The cameras, however, sensitive to visible light from the Sun, captured this light, which is originally starlight, in all its magnificence.