This image, transmitted to Earth from the Hubble Space Telescope, depicts “Gas Pillars in the Eagle Nebula (M16): Pillars of Creation in a Star-Forming Region.” Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University).
Why are Hubble's pictures of nebulae (from the Latin word for “clouds”) so stunning? In a way, they remind us of sunsets with clouds. Although beautiful when the sky is clear, sunsets tend to be significantly more awe-inspiring in the presence of clouds.
Nebulae - glowing shells of dust, 0 and plasma (not the kind that’s in your blood) - are sometimes like wispy or billowing clouds reflecting the sun’s light. A particularly beautiful one is the Veil Nebula which is so huge it measures about 110 light-years across.
Images recorded by orbiting space telescopes allow us to examine these swaths of interstellar dust and gas, illuminated by their interaction with nearby stars (or their own star remnants).
There are four types of nebulae: absorption, emission, planetary and reflection. With pictures from the space telescopes, we can examine some of each.
Now that we know something about nebulae, let’s compare them with the objects first attracting Charles Messier’s attention: Comets.
To cite this story (For MLA citation guidance see easybib or OWL ):
Bos, Carole "NOTABLE NEBULAE" AwesomeStories.com. Jun 01, 2008. Apr 25, 2024.