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Why are nebulae interesting?
Nebulas are very important “clouds” in interstellar space. They can create stars, planets, even entire solar systems. Since we have observed nebulae, we actually ended up realizing that there is more than one galaxy in the Universe. The first discovered galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, was first thought to be a nebula.
How many nebulae are there?
There are believed to be about 20,000 objects called planetary nebulae in the Milky Way Galaxy, each representing gas expelled relatively recently from a central star very late in its evolution. Because of the obscuration of dust in the Galaxy, only about 1,800 planetary nebulae have been cataloged.
How old is a nebula?
Now we estimate its distance from us as somewhere around 1500 light years. This in turn puts our calculation of the distance it has expanded at a lower number (90 light years instead of 150), and thus dropped the estimated age of the nebula from 20,000 years to somewhere between 5000-8000 years old!
Who named nebula?
About 10,000 of these short-lived, glowing objects are estimated to exist in the Milky Way, although only about 1,500 have been detected; the unseen rest hide behind interstellar dust. The term “planetary nebula” is a misnomer. It was coined by William Herschel, who also compiled an astronomical catalog.
What are 3 facts about the nebula?
Interesting Nebula Facts: A dark nebula is so dense that objects behind are obscured. This type of nebula extinguishes light with interstellar dust grains. An example of a dark nebula is the Horsehead Nebula. A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula that is made up of glowing and expanding ionized gases.
What is the importance of nebula?
Planetary nebulae are important objects in astronomy because they play a crucial role in the chemical evolution of the galaxy, returning material to the interstellar medium which has been enriched in heavy elements and other products of nucleosynthesis (such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and calcium).
How hot is a nebula?
about 10,000 degrees Celsius
The temperature of the gas in the nebula is about 10,000 degrees Celsius, and the central stars of planetary nebulae are among the hottest stars in the Universe, with temperature in the range of 25,000 to over 200,000 degrees Celsius.
Are there any nebulas in our galaxy?
Right now, we know of about 3,000 planetary nebulae in our galaxy, the Milky Way, out of roughly 200 billion stars. Most of them are near the center of our galaxy. They come in many shapes, but most are spherical, elliptical, or bipolar. The spherical ones are usually produced by older stars, like our sun.
Are we in a nebula?
This depends a lot on exactly how you define a nebulae, but we are actually in a very dense region of the interstellar medium, the local interstellar cloud. Observing it directly from Earth is very difficult, due to sunlight and the solar wind, but its magnetic field has been measured by the Voyager 2 probe.
How are planetary nebula formed?
A planetary nebula is created when a star blows off its outer layers after it has run out of fuel to burn. These outer layers of gas expand into space, forming a nebula which is often the shape of a ring or bubble. About 200 years ago, William Herschel called these spherical clouds planetary nebulae because they were…
What is the Great Orion Nebula?
Orion Nebula, bright diffuse nebula in the constellation Orion; also known as the Great Nebula of Orion and cataloged as M42 or NGC 1976. It is located near the middle of the “sword” hanging from Orion’s “belt” of stars. Its central bright region is about 1° in diameter and it has a total extension of 3°.
What is a stellar nebula?
Definition of stellar nebula. 1: the nebulosity surrounding a star: a star’s shell or envelope of nebulosity. 2: planetary nebula.
What is Nebula kids?
Planetary nebula facts for kids. A planetary nebula is a nebula that is made up of gas and plasma. They are made by certain types of stars when they die. They are named this because they look like planets through small optical telescopes. They do not last for very long compared to a star, only tens of thousands of years.