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An interstellar cloud is generally an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. But differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium , the matter and radiation that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy.
The interstellar medium is composed of multiple phases distinguished by whether matter is ionic, atomic, or molecular, and the temperature and density of the matter. The interstellar medium is composed primarily of hydrogen, followed by helium with trace amounts of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. [1]
The Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), also known as the Local Fluff, is an interstellar cloud roughly 30 light-years (9.2 pc) across, through which the Solar System is moving. This feature overlaps with a region around the Sun referred to as the solar neighborhood. [2] It is unknown whether the Sun is embedded in the Local Interstellar Cloud, or ...
The extremely low density of the interstellar medium is not conducive to the formation of molecules, making conventional gas-phase reactions between neutral species (atoms or molecules) inefficient. Many regions also have very low temperatures (typically 10 kelvin inside a molecular cloud), further reducing the reaction rates, or high ...
Higher density regions of the interstellar medium form clouds, or diffuse nebulae, [3] where star formation takes place. [4] In contrast to spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies lose the cold component [ definition needed ] of its interstellar medium within roughly a billion years, which hinders the galaxy from forming diffuse nebulae except ...
Molecular clouds typically have interstellar medium densities of 10 to 30 cm −3, and constitute approximately 50% of the total interstellar gas in a galaxy. [11] Most of the gas is found in a molecular state. The visual boundaries of a molecular cloud is not where the cloud effectively ends, but where molecular gas changes to atomic gas in a ...
As a result, these nebulae are incredibly faint, taking hours of exposure to capture. These nebulae clouds, an important component of the interstellar medium, are composed of dust particles, hydrogen and carbon monoxide and some other elements." [22] They are particularly prominent in the direction of both the north and south celestial poles ...
The Local Bubble, or Local Cavity, [3] is a relative cavity in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Orion Arm in the Milky Way.It contains the closest of celestial neighbours and among others, the Local Interstellar Cloud (which contains the Solar System), the neighbouring G-Cloud, the Ursa Major moving group (the closest stellar moving group) and the Hyades (the nearest open cluster).