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A nebula (Latin for 'cloud, fog'; [1] pl.: nebulae, nebul ... Many nebulae are visible due to fluorescence caused by embedded hot stars, while others are so diffused ...
Planetary nebulae, represented here by the Ring Nebula, are examples of emission nebulae. An emission nebula is a nebula formed of ionized gases that emit light of various wavelengths. The most common source of ionization is high-energy ultraviolet photons emitted from a nearby hot star .
The heating of the disk is primarily caused by the viscous dissipation of turbulence in it and by the infall of the gas from the nebula. [39] [40] The high temperature in the inner disk causes most of the volatile material—water, organics, and some rocks—to evaporate, leaving only the most refractory elements like iron. The ice can survive ...
The Ring nebula, a planetary nebula similar to what the Sun will become. This is a relatively peaceful event, nothing akin to a supernova, which the Sun is too small to undergo as part of its evolution. Any observer present to witness this occurrence would see a massive increase in the speed of the solar wind, but not enough to destroy a planet ...
A typical planetary nebula is roughly one light year across, and consists of extremely rarefied gas, with a density generally from 100 to 10,000 particles per cm 3. [40] (The Earth's atmosphere, by comparison, contains 2.5 × 10 19 particles per cm 3.) Young planetary nebulae have the highest densities, sometimes as high as 10 6 particles per ...
Reflection nebula are usually blue because the scattering is more efficient for blue light than red (this is the same scattering process that gives us blue skies and red sunsets). Reflection nebulae and emission nebulae are often seen together and are sometimes both referred to as diffuse nebulae. Some 500 reflection nebulae are known.
A dark nebula or absorption nebula is a type of interstellar cloud, particularly molecular clouds, that is so dense that it obscures the visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it, such as background stars and emission or reflection nebulae.
Representative lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses The change in size with time of a Sun-like star Artist's depiction of the life cycle of a Sun-like star, starting as a main-sequence star at lower left then expanding through the subgiant and giant phases, until its outer envelope is expelled to form a planetary nebula at upper right Chart of stellar evolution