Here's some further reading on star formation in the Trifid Nebula.

A Dusty Bloom
The clouds and filaments of the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20). North is up.
Howard Banich

Contributing Editor Howard Banich made this exquisite drawing of the Trifid Nebula (M20) over many nights spanning several years using his 28-inch f/4 Newtonian at magnifications from 135x to 408x. No filters were used. A total of 8.5 hours went into sketching at the eyepiece, with another several hours of additional work to finish the drawing.

You can read more about Howard's Trifid observations in the June 2016 issue. If you're interested in the science of the nebula, studies of the molecular clouds, filaments, and star-forming regions are well-represented in the professional literature. For a few relevant papers, follow the links below.

Sources:

Molecular Clouds in the Trifid Nebula M20; Possible evidence for a cloud-cloud collision in triggering the formation of first generation stars
Torii, et al
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics > Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, 2011
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1106.3603v2.pdf

Star Formation in the Trifid Nebula, Cores and filaments
Lefloch, Cernicharo and Pardo
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics, 2008
http://arxiv.org/pdf/0809.2023.pdf

Spectacular Spitzer Images of the Trifid Nebula: Protostars in a Young, Massive-star-forming Region
Rho, Reach, Lefloch and Fazio
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics, 2006
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0601633.pdf

Proper Motion of the Irradiated Jet HH 399 in the Trifid Nebula
Yusef-Zadeh, Biretta and Wardle
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics, 2005
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0501172v1.pdf

Chandra Observation of the Trifid Nebula: X-ray emission from the O star complex and actively forming Pre-main sequence stars
Rho, Ramirez, Corcoran, Hamaguchi and Lefloch
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics, 2004
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0401377.pdf

The Photoionization of a Star-Forming Core in the Trifid Nebula
Lefloch, Cernicharo et al
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics, 2002
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0208119.pdf

Pre-Orion Cores in the Trifid Nebula
Lefloch and Cernicharo
Cornell University Library, Astrophysics, 2000
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0007346.pdf

Photometry and spectroscopy of the central star of the Trifid nebula
Kohoutek, Mayer and Lorenz
Astronomy & Astrophysics, Supplement Series, 1999
http://aas.aanda.org/articles/aas/pdf/1999/01/ds1495.pdf

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