Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Nebula



How Do Nebulae Form?

Interstellar clouds of gas and dust are known as nebulae. The remains of dying stars constitute the starting point for many nebulae. New stars are frequently born in nebulae as well.

The term "nebula" today describes an interstellar cloud of gas and dust. Planetary nebulae or the scattered debris from supernova explosions are two common sources of nebula formation from the remains of dying stars. As a result of the abundance of dust and gas present in these areas, which serve as frequent sites of strong star formation, new stars are frequently created there. Nebulae are typically enormous, measuring many light years across. Previously, the term "nebula" applied to any astronomical object that looked to have a diffuse structure, including what we now refer to as galaxies.

Beautiful and vibrant nebulae have appeared in some of the Hubble Space Telescope's most well-known photographs. Here, you can browse the enormous ESA/Hubble database of dozens of nebula pictures. This includes well-known photographs of the Crab Nebula, the Pillars of Creation, the Lagoon Nebula (Hubble's 28th anniversary image), NGC 2014, and NGC 2020 (Hubble's 30th anniversary image).

A planetary nebula is an area of cosmic gas and dust that was created from a dying star's shed outer layers. Planetary nebulae are unrelated to planets despite their name. Photograph: ESA/Hubble (Michael Kornmesser)

The enormous mosaic of 15 Hubble photos of the center portion of the Orion Nebula complex is one of the most intricate representations of a star-forming zone ever created. The analysis of the dust discs, known as proplyds, around the nascent stars in this nebula has been made possible thanks in large part to Hubble's great resolution. The "proplyds" could very well be immature planetary systems that are still in the process of developing. We now have visual evidence that dusty discs around newborn stars are prevalent because of Hubble's superior details to those obtained by ground-based sensors.

The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) equipment onboard Hubble is built to capture fine-grained images in both visible and infrared light, with much increased infrared capabilities. This enables Hubble to view the developing stars by peering through the gas and dust of nebulae. In order to clearly view the full extent of the star formation in the area, infrared studies are frequently the only option due to dust clouds' ability to transmit infrared light without interference while scattering visible light.

Astronomers have also used Hubble to catch a rare sight of the Stingray Nebula, also known as Hen 3-1357, which has been rapidly fading during the past 20 years. The majority of processes are too slow to be detected within a human lifetime, despite the fact that the Universe is constantly changing. But the Stingray Nebula gave scientists a unique chance to watch a system's development in action. Examples include a nebula that has substantially changed in shape and brightness between Hubble photos obtained in 1996 and those released in 2016.

By ESA/HUBBLE 

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