Pillars of Creation
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How are Stars Born?
Astronomers have discovered that the clouds of gas and dust — the interstellar medium (ISM) — found between the stars are made of the same materials as the stars themselves. In fact, hydrogen is the most common element in both…
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What is Coronal Gas?
Stars are hot. Space is cold. We’re all familiar with that, right? Ok, good. Technically, it’s more complicated than that. Space isn’t completely frigid — absolute zero, the temperature at which there is no heat whatsoever, is purely theoretical and not…
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What are Molecular Clouds?
Meet the Pillars of Creation, a photograph taken by the Hubble Telescope in 1995. These apparent “pillars” of dust and gas are what we call molecular clouds. And this region of clouds in space is aptly named: it’s where stars are…
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What is a Nebula?
What’s a nebula? Well…you’re looking at one. Okay, okay, I know. You want to know what that actually is. You want to know why it’s there. You want to know why there are colors in space…and why you’ve never noticed…
