~astro-craze~

I love clouds. Clouds take various shapes. Cloud in Latin is known as “NEBULA”. Nebulae is a cosmic cloud of gas and dust floating in space. More than one nebula are called nebulae.

Nebulae are the basic building blocks of the universe. They contain the elements from which stars and solar systems are built. They are also among the most beautiful objects in the universe, glowing with rich colors and swirls of light. Stars inside these clouds of gas cause them to glow with beautiful reds, blues, and greens. These colors are the result of different elements within the nebula. Most nebulae are composed of about 90% hydrogen, 10% helium, and 0.1% heavy elements such as carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron. These clouds of matter are also quite large. In fact, they are among the largest objects in the galaxy. Many of them are dozens or even hundreds of light-years across. Nebulae have been divided into five major categories. These are emission nebulae, reflection nebulae, dark nebulae, planetary nebulae, and supernova remnants.

Emission and reflection nebulae tend to be fuzzy in appearance and lack any noticeable shape or structure. They are also known as diffuse nebulae.

Emission Nebula, is an emission nebula is a cloud of high temperature gas. Within this type of nebula, a star energizes the atoms in the cloud with ultraviolet radiation. As for Reflection Nebula, it is a reflection nebula differs from an emission nebula in does not emit radiation of its own. It is a cloud of dust and gas that reflects the light energy from a nearby star or group of stars. Reflection nebulae are frequently the sites of star formation.