Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
The densest molecular clouds have significantly higher pressure than the interstellar average, since they are bound together by their own gravity. When stars form in such clouds, especially OB stars, they convert the surrounding gas into the warm ionized phase, a temperature increase of several hundred.
The following tables list molecules that have been detected in the interstellar medium or circumstellar matter, grouped by the number of component atoms.Neutral molecules and their molecular ions are listed in separate columns; if there is no entry in the molecule column, only the ionized form has been detected.
Westerhout 51 nebula in Aquila - one of the largest star factories in the Milky Way (August 25, 2020). Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—collapse and form stars. [1]
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.
NGC 604, a giant H II region in the Triangulum Galaxy, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. An H II region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. [1] It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light years, and density from a few to about a million particles per ...
Infrared studies by Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed a variety of chemical compounds in the molecular outflow, including water (ice), methanol, methane, carbon dioxide and various silicates. [ 7 ] [ 26 ] Located around 460 parsecs (1,500 light-years) away in the Orion A molecular cloud , HH 34 is produced by a highly collimated bipolar jet ...
In general then, molecules are found in cool astrophysical environments. The most massive objects in our galaxy are giant clouds of molecules and dust known as giant molecular clouds. In these clouds, and smaller versions of them, stars and planets are formed. One of the primary fields of study of molecular astrophysics is star and planet ...