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A molecular cloud—sometimes called a stellar nursery if star formation is occurring within—is a type of interstellar cloud of which the density and size permit absorption nebulae, the formation of molecules (most commonly molecular hydrogen, H 2), and the formation of H II regions.
These filaments of cloud have dense "cores" of gas embedded within them—many of which are likely to gravitationally collapse and form stars. The Herschel results for this region, and subsequently reported results for other star-forming regions, imply that fragmentation of molecular-cloud filaments are fundamental to the star-formation process.
Elephant trunks (more formally, cold molecular pillars [1]) are a type of interstellar matter formations found in molecular clouds. They are located in the neighborhood of massive O type and B type stars , which, through their intense radiation, can create expanding regions of ionized gas known as H II regions .
This video clip shows a visualization of the three-dimensional structure of the Pillars of Creation. Closer view of one pillar. Pillars of Creation is a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, in the Serpens constellation, some 6,500–7,000 light-years (2,000–2,100 pc; 61–66 Em) from Earth. [1]
Inside an EGG the gas and dust are denser than in the surrounding dust cloud. Gravity pulls the cloud even more tightly together as the EGG continues to draw in material from its surroundings. As the cloud density builds up the globule becomes hotter under the weight of the outer layers, a protostar is formed inside the EGG.
Photoevaporation is the process where energetic radiation ionises gas and causes it to disperse away from the ionising source. The term is typically used in an astrophysical context where ultraviolet radiation from hot stars acts on clouds of material such as molecular clouds, protoplanetary disks, or planetary atmospheres.
Map of the star local neighborhood within 1000 parsecs; the Sun is at the center. The Vela dark clouds is at 270° galactic longitude, bottom-center. The Milky Way in the direction of the Vela Molecular Ridge presents an overlap of objects and structures, all roughly aligned with the galactic plane; situations of this kind may tend to hinder the observation of large nebulae regions, due to the ...
[4] [5] The cluster is situated in the southern portion of the Serpens cloud (adjacent to the star-forming region known as W40). The stars are embedded in a dense filament of interstellar gas, which is part of the giant molecular cloud that has given rise to the cluster of young stars in W40. This entire complex is located at a distance of 1420 ...