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A nebula that is visible to the human eye from Earth would appear larger, but no brighter, from close by. [6] The Orion Nebula, the brightest nebula in the sky and occupying an area twice the angular diameter of the full Moon, can be viewed with the naked eye but was missed by early astronomers. [7]
A celestial map by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit, 1670. A star chart is a celestial map of the night sky with astronomical objects laid out on a grid system. They are used to identify and locate constellations, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and planets. [1] They have been used for human navigation since time immemorial. [2]
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.
Researchers have unveiled intricate details of the star-forming region known as the Tarantula Nebula which lies 170,000 light years from Earth. Scientists map violent nebula to discover how stars ...
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
Moons have come to exist around most planets and many other Solar System bodies. These natural satellites originated by one of three possible mechanisms: Co-formation from a circumplanetary disc (only in the cases of the giant planets); Formation from impact debris (given a large enough impact at a shallow angle); and; Capture of a passing object.
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 .
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 ...