- Cypress Highlands Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
Located on the largest undeveloped island in the San Juan Archipelago, this preserve comprises 1,072 acres on Cypress Island and includes rare freshwater wetlands and native fescue grasslands on rocky balds. The preserve also protects natural forests indicative of the dry, “rain-shadow” location, including Douglas-fir, Pacific madrone, lodgepole pine, and seaside juniper.
- Trifid Nebula (Wikipedia)
The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way’s Scutum–Centaurus Arm. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. Its name means ’three-lobe’. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the relatively dense, reddish-pink portion), a reflection nebula (the mainly NNE blue portion), and a dark nebula (the apparent ‘gaps’ in the former that cause the trifurcated appearance, also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.