Interstellar medium Essays

  • The Interstellar Medium and Starbirth

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    appears to be empty, it is actually filled with matter known as the interstellar medium, approximately ninety-nine percent of the interstellar medium consists of gas and the remaining one percent is dust. Clouds of interstellar medium are called nebula, derived from the Latin word for cloud (What is the Interstellar Medium?, n.d.). Nebulas are formed when gravitational attraction clumps together parts of the interstellar medium (Villanueva, 2010). There are several types of nebula, which are differentiated

  • The Birth of a Star

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    A star is a self-radiant divine body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity. The birth of a star begins inside a molecular cloud. Stars form inside these somewhat dense concentrations of interstellar gas and dust. The process of star formation has long been a mystery because of viewing limitations. Large amounts of small solid particles blocked our view of the stars which are beyond the molecular cloud. Infrared technology now provides some insight on how a star is formed

  • Life Cycle of a Star

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    details. All things have a life cycle of creation, life, and dying, including the stars. A star's birth starts with a interstellar cloud. A interstellar cloud, or a interstellar medium, is a cloud made of hydrogen gas and dust. Also, the interstellar cloud is a filled space between the other stars, that has a rattling low density (Interstellar Medium). A star forms from a interstellar cloud by combining with other atoms. With the temperature being, nothing to just above zero degrees, the atoms of the

  • Essay On Nebulae

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    dust and gas floating in space. The word nebula is Latin and means cloud. Originally the word nebula referred to any extended astronomical object, not including comets, planets, or satellites. But over time the word nebula became reduced to mean interstellar cloud of dust and gas. Calling it that does not do a nebula justice. Most nebulae are commonly made up of hydrogen and helium gasses, dust, and plasma. Nebulae are the building blocks of our universe; they contain all the things stars need to

  • Six Steps Involved In The Formation Of The Solar System

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    Question 1: List and briefly describe each of the six steps involved in the formation of the solar system. Response: Step 1: Gravitational Collapse An interstellar cloud of gas that is known as the solar nebula collapsed under its own gravity. The collapse may have been caused by a cataclysmic event. After that, gravity allowed the collapse to continue. This lead to the heating, spinning and flattening of the solar nebula. The Sun formed in the center of the collapsing solar nebula where the

  • Milky Way Galaxies

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Galaxy is an enormous collection of billions of stars, gas and dust held together by the force of gravity. Our sun and all the other visible stars in the night sky belong to the Milky Way galaxy. The entire Milky Way galaxy itself contains over 200 billion stars with an average separation of 5 light years between each of them. Similarly, there are billions of other galaxies are existing in our unimaginably vast Universe. Galaxies come in different shapes and sizes. They were first classified according

  • How to Measure Energy Cosmic Rays

    1864 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cosmic rays are to scientists much like photons are to astronomers. Just as astronomers use light (or photons) to view our galaxy and beyond, scientists use cosmic rays to infer useful properties about our galaxy. In fact, cosmic rays offer one of the few ways in which scientists can actually sample real matter outside of our solar system. By identifying the various nuclei that are dispersed throughout our Galaxy, scientists hope to unravel the mechanisms that actually produce these nuclei -- from

  • Horsehead Nebulae

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nebulae are a very colorful space feature. If you ever get a chance to see one, you would agree. I have been researching nebulae for the past few days, in particular the horsehead nebula, and I have learned quite a bit about these vibrant space displays. Nebulae are a large cloud of hydrogen, helium, various other gasses, dust particles, and plasma often containing new stars or the remnants of old stars. There are several types of nebulae. They are emission, reflection, dark and planetary nebulae

  • Lagoon Nebula Essay

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    as well as several other interesting phenomena such as Bok globules, and the hourglass nebula. It is these regions of the nebula that make it a continuous area of interest and study for astronomers. Messier 8, nicknamed the Lagoon Nebula is an interstellar cloud located in Sagittarius, discovered by John Flamsteed in 1680. It is one of the few nebulae that can be seen by the naked eye. It was given its nickname by Agnes

  • Image Analysis Program

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    Purpose: to become familiar with the image analysis program and to develop an understanding to the size and age of planetary nebulae Procedure The first part of the experiment involved using a picture of a church and back round to understand different pixels, ADU, zoom, and how to get the (x,y) coordinates. We then took this brief understanding of pictures and applied it to the stars. We loaded a picture of nebulae m42. After this we needed to calculate the average number of stars or solar masses

  • My Favorite APOD Nebulae Images

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    type appears in a vast array of shapes, sizes and form in different ways. The unique appearance of each nebula depends on temperature, density and how the dust is spatially arranged with respect to the viewer. Although all nebulae are forms of interstellar matter some of them formed from the death of stars while others formed from atoms and simply reflect the light from the nearby stars. The first nebula, to be highlighted, is The Great Carina Nebula, or NGC 3372, which is found approximately 7,500

  • Star Physics

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    supernovae are stars that run out of fuel and collapses under their own gravity. The layers can blow out at a velocity of 15,000 km/s. The energy from the explosion causes elements heavier than iron to form. Remnants of supernovae will cool and become interstellar clouds, therefore, allowing new stars to form. A supernova can radiate more energy than the sun will in its entire lifetime. The supernova can either become a neutron star or a black

  • Star Formation

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    The basic idea of star formation is gravitational collapse – the contraction of a region of gas under the influence of gravity. This is a simple process that would be expected to occur in any region of material dense enough for collisions between atoms to radiate away energy. However, the gas must be dense enough for collisions to occur and the temperature must be low enough for the atomic velocities not to be able to escape the system's gravity, so star formation only occurs in a few areas. The

  • Low Mass Stars Research Paper

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stars form by starting in a nebula, which is a cloud of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust and are born in cold, and dense clouds of gas which the pressure cannot resist gravitational contraction. The gas and dust compress due to gravitational forces, forming a slowly rotating globule. The globule is cooled by emitting radio waves and infrared radiation. It is compressed by gravitational forces and by shock waves of pressure from supernova or the hot gas released from nearby stars. These forces cause

  • The Life Cycle of a Star

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    the life cycle of a star, astronomers observe many of the billions of stars around us and see them at different stages of life, therefore piecing together a star's evolution. A star is born from clouds of gas and dust called nebulae found in interstellar space. Nebulae are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, but also contain traces of heavier elements. It is uncertain as to how the very first stars were created. What is known is that after the first stars were formed, they began to generate

  • Crab Nebula

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    blanket. It is within this “blanket”, called the interstellar medium, that new stars are formed. The interstellar medium consists of 99% gas and about 1% dust particles. Hydrogen is the predominant gas in both atomic and molecular forms. While being the place where stars are born, the interstellar medium also creates beautiful nebulae. A reflection nebula is created when light from a nearby star reflects from the dust particles in the interstellar medium. There are two main types of nebulae and two other

  • Challenges Of Interstellar Space Travel

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    Introduction The idea of interstellar space travel has been discussed for many years between many scientists and engineers since 1950s (Adelman, 180). It has not only been discussed but also demonstrated in science fiction literature. By getting the knowledge of interstellar travel, people wonder when will we be able to travel between stars and if it is even possible to reach another star other than the sun. However, others wonder “what is the point of spending so much money on something that it

  • Mediacy And Hypermediacy

    1759 Words  | 4 Pages

    closely examined the relations and functions of such concepts in their book, Remediation: Understanding New Media. Both immediacy and hypermediacy are terms referring to logic, the imperative on which the relationship between the engager and the medium rests. Immediacy refers to the producer’s goal of the text’s mediation being rendered transparent. Immediacy is associated with simultaneity, intuition and invisibility, and attempts to erase its representative qualities to provide ‘immediate’ a.

  • Hydroponics Growing Without Soil

    2455 Words  | 5 Pages

    hydroponics. During the 1940’s at Purdue University, Robert B. and Alice P. Withrow developed another hydroponic method. Their process was called Nutriculture. Nutriculture varied from Dr. Gericke’s method in that gravel was used as a rooting medium. After World War II a number of commercial installations were built in the United States. The majority of these were located in Florida. Most were out of doors and subject to the rigors of the weather. Poor construction techniques and operating practices

  • Language as Freedom in Sartre's Philosophy

    4153 Words  | 9 Pages

    Language as Freedom in Sartre's Philosophy I argue that Sartre posits language as a medium of communication that is capable of safeguarding the development of subjectivity and freedom. Language does this in a twofold manner: on the one hand, it is an action that does not phenomenally alter being, but that has the capacity of altering consciousness; on the other hand, language, more particularly written text, is a mode of communication that is delayed, hence that occurs outside the present, i.e