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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 thermal pressures of these phases are in ...
Interstellar object. An interstellar object is an astronomical object (such as an asteroid, a comet, or a rogue planet, but not a star or stellar remnant) in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interstellar trajectory but is temporarily passing close to a star ...
Another way of understanding the vastness of interstellar distances is by scaling: One of the closest stars to the Sun, Alpha Centauri A (a Sun-like star that is one of two companions of Proxima Centauri), can be pictured by scaling down the Earth–Sun distance to one meter (3.28 ft). On this scale, the distance to Alpha Centauri A would be ...
The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere, and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. It takes the shape of a vast, tailed bubble-like region of space. In plasma physics terms, it is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding interstellar medium. The "bubble" of the heliosphere is continuously "inflated" by plasma originating from ...
Interstellar cloud. A small part of the emission nebula NGC 6357. It glows with the characteristic red of an H II region. [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 ...
The visible shells of circumstellar material were ejected by the central star over thousands of years. One of the richest sources for detecting interstellar molecules is Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2), a giant molecular cloud near the centre of the Milky Way. About half of the molecules listed below were first found in Sgr B2, and many of the others ...
Astrophysical plasma. Lagoon Nebula is a large, low-density cloud of partially ionized gas. [1] Astrophysical plasma is plasma outside of the Solar System. It is studied as part of astrophysics and is commonly observed in space. [2] The accepted view of scientists is that much of the baryonic matter in the universe exists in this state.
The Oort cloud (/ ɔːrt, ʊərt /), [1] sometimes called the Öpik–Oort cloud, [2] is theorized to be a vast cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 AU (0.03 to 3.2 light-years). [3][note 1][4] The concept of such a cloud was proposed in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, in whose honor ...