Explanation:
A single field from the world's most powerful survey instrument
captures this spectacular skyview.
Looking toward Sagittarius, the scene spans
nearly 3 degrees or six times the width of the Full Moon.
At bottom, upper right, and lower left it covers
the Lagoon Nebula (M8), the Trifid Nebula (M20),
and NGC 6559, in the crowded, dusty starfields of the
central Milky Way.
The adopted color scheme shows dust reddened starlight
in red hues and normally red emission from hydrogen atoms in green.
Built and operated by the
Pan-STARRS project,
the instrument
features a 1.4 gigapixel (billion pixel) digital camera and telescope.
Pan-STARRS, the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System,
is intended to scan the skies for potentially dangerous
near-earth asteroids and comets,
exploring the Universe with a unique
high resolution, wide field view.
