An emission nebula is a glowing cloud of ionized gas that is excited by ultraviolet radiation absorbed from hot nearby stars. A reflection nebula is a nebula produced when starlight reflects from very small dust particles floating in the interstellar medium, resulting in a bluish glow.

What are emission nebulae? they glow when the atoms in the cloud are blast by light and radiation from a nearby massive star. Reflection nebula: only glow because they are reflecting light from a nearby star because it is made mostly of dust.

An emission nebula is a cloud of ionized gas. The most common source for ionizations are high energy photons emitted from a nearby star. These can be among some of the most colorful objects in the sky. Reflection Nebulae are clouds of dust which are simply reflecting the light of a nearby star or stars.

Reflection nebula. Usually blue. Clouds of dust that reflect the light from a nearby star. Usually found at “star formation” sites and are mostly found near emission nebulae.

– The light we see coming from the nebula is starlight that has been scattered and reflected by these dust grains.

Emission nebulae are distinguished by their bright reddish hue. This characteristic appearance is produced primarily by the excited hydrogen atoms in HII regions.

Only $2.99/month. Question: A dark nebula is a MultipleChoice : 1) region where there is no gas or dust. 2) cloud that is so opaque, no light can get through. 3) region made entirely of black dust particles.

How do we know what nebulae look like? Astronomers use very powerful telescopes to take pictures of faraway nebulae. Space telescopes such as NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope have captured many images of faraway nebulae.

“Reflection nebulae glow because they are made up of extremely tiny particles of solid matter, up to 10 or even 100 times smaller than dust particles on Earth,” the researchers explained. “These particles diffuse the light around them, giving the nebula a second-hand glow that’s typically bluish.”

There are five types of cloudy or nebulous objects in the sky: planetary nebulae, emission nebulae, reflection nebulae, dark nebulae and supernova remnants. I will cover the planetaries in the next chapter and discuss the other four types here.

IC 63 — nicknamed the Ghost Nebula — is about 550 light-years from Earth. The nebula is classified as both a reflection nebula — as it is reflecting the light of a nearby star — and as an emission nebula — as it releases hydrogen-alpha radiation. Both effects are caused by the gigantic star Gamma Cassiopeiae.

This nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia has flowing veils of gas and dust that have earned it the nickname “Ghost Nebula.” Officially known as IC 63, this nebula is located 550 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen.

1 light year

William Herschel

1966

Eagle Nebula

The Pillars of Creation won’t be around forever, but all signs point to them still being there today. They haven’t been destroyed, and as the light continues to arrive over the next thousands of years, we’ll see them shrink only slowly, likely for hundreds of thousands of years to come.

You can see the Pillars of Creations in the center, the beak of the Eagle above, and the faint, spanned wings on its sides. As you can see, the iconic Pillars of Creation are easily photographed by amateur photographers even with a cheap DSLR camera and no filter.

6,500 light-years away