At a Glance: Types of Nebulae
Video Player
Video Versions
Floating among the stars in ours and other galaxies are huge clouds of dust and gas called nebulae. These nebulae are related to the stars with different kinds playing various roles in the story of stellar life and death.
Star Forming Nebulas
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.
All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:
· Image of reflection nebula NGC 1788 courtesy of T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF) & S. Pakzad (NOAO/AURA/NSF)
· Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory
· Orion constellation photo courtesy of Akira Fujii
· Illustration of circumstellar disk and jets courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
· Image of HH 34 jets courtesy of ESO
· Star formation animation courtesy of Aimei Kutt (Brown University/STScI)
Written by Vanessa Thomas
Designed by John Godfrey
(SPEECH)
[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]
(DESCRIPTION)
Rotating planet with atmosphere, galaxies in space as backdrop. Text, at a Glance. Different kinds of cosmic clouds.
Rotating planet with atmosphere, galaxies in space as backdrop. Text, at a Glance. Different kinds of cosmic clouds.
Image of a galaxy.
Text, Floating among the stars in our galaxy and other galaxies are huge clouds of dust and gas called nebulae.
These nebulae are related to the stars with different kinds playing various roles in the story of stellar life and death.
Some, called planetary nebulae, are the death throes of dying sun-like stars that have shed their outer layers into space.
Supernova remnants are the bits and pieces of massive stars that have exploded and scattered their innards outward.
Instead of stellar graveyards, some nebulae are stellar nurseries. These star-forming regions also come in a variety of types.
Absorption nebulae, also known as dark nebulae, allow no visible light to pass through their boundaries. Sometimes though, newborn stars can be spotted peeking out from the edge of these shadowy clouds.
Reflection nebulae, on the other hand, are bright.
They reflect the light of stars within them or from stars close by.
Emission nebulae also appear bright, because they produce their own light.
Hot, young stars blast the cloud with ultraviolet radiation causing the nebula to heat up and glow.