Messiers and Mars . ... M20 (upper left), the Trifid Nebula , presents a striking contrast in red/blue colors and dark dust lanes. Just below and to the right is the expansive, alluring red glow of M8, the Lagoon Nebula . Both nebulae are a few thousand light-years distant but at the far right, the dominant celestial beacon is a "local" source, the planet Mars . Just passing through Sagittarius and strongly overexposed in this picture, the Red Planet was a short 4 light-minutes away. ...