Nebulae and Stellar Birth

Overview
Stellar nurseries are made of clouds of dust and gas called nebulae (singular is nebula). All stars are
born out of nebulae -- except in some rare instances when two neutron stars merge to form a black
hole (however, both neutron stars and black holes are considered to be "dead" stars).
There are two different origins of nebulae. The first origin for material is the universe's creation
itself: Soon after its birth, atoms were created in the universe, and it is from these that the first dust
and gas clouds formed. This means that the gas and dust that make up this type of nebula were not
created in a star, but are the original matter from the beginnings of the universe. The second kind of
nebulae are produced by the supernovas of exploding stars. The matter ejected from them created the
Veil and Crab nebulae, as well as many more. Also, keep in mind that the origins of nebulae are not
as clear cut as this; a nebula can be a mixture of primordial material as well as new material from
previous stars.
Types of Nebulae
Emission nebulae are the most colorful of the five main types
of nebulae. They are lit internally from young stars still in
their stellar nursery. The different colors are caused by the
different gases and the composition of the dust in the nebula.
Usually a large telescope (8+ inches) will reveal most of the
colors in an emission nebula. To see all of the colors, a longexposure photograph is usually required.

Emission

Pictured to the right is a section of the Eagle Nebula (top)

and the Lagoon Nebula (bottom). In the image of the Eagle
Nebula, also known as M16, one can see three distinct
"pillars" of gas. It took the Hubble Space Telescope to see
these pillars, imaged in 1995, and they would not be visible
to back-yard astronomers. Inside the pillars are newly-formed
stars, whose solar winds are literally blowing away the
surrounding gas and dust. The most prominent pillar is about
10 light-years tall and one light-year thick. The full nebula
was discovered in 1764, and lies about 7,000 light-years
away.
The image of the Lagoon Nebula (M8) is also taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope. It lies approximately 5,200 lightyears away, and was originally discovered in 1747. The full
nebula spans approximately 140x60 light-years, but this is
just a small section of it that Hubble imaged.

Reflection

Dark

Reflection nebulae are nebulae that reflect stars' light - stars

from either inside or near the nebula. The Pleiades (pictured
to the side) is a good example of a reflection nebula. The
stars are thought to have formed at roughly the same time about 100 million years ago, which would make them about
1/50 the age of our sun. They are believed to currently be
plowing through the thin, wispy nebula that is seen as blue
wisps and glows around the stars (the flares are artifacts of
the camera).
In essence, all nebulae are in fact dark, for they produce no
visual light of their own. However, when astronomers refer to
a "dark nebula," they are speaking of one that blocks the light
of something behind it, like a wall, and are thus only visible
when they omit light from something behind them (from our
line of sight). That is why we cannot see very far into our
galaxy in visible light - there are too many lanes of dust and
gas (dark nebulae) in the way, so astronomers must rely on
other forms of light.
Pictured to the right is the famous Horsehead Nebula, this
image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The part that
forms the horse's head is the dark nebula, known as Barnard
33. The dark nebula lies in front of the background emission
nebula, known as IC 434.
Planetary nebulae are created when a main sequence star
grows into a red giant and casts off its outer layers. This is
how they get their (usually) circular shape, for the material is
thrown off the star in a roughly symmetrical manner, as seen
in the upper picture of The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543).
You can also see the remains of the central star in this image.

Planetary

In the case of the lower image of the Retina Nebula (IC

4406), we are viewing the circular disk on its side, like
looking at a doughnut's edge. The star's spin and magnetic
fields cause the material to expand in more of a circular disk,
rather than in a spherical manner.
The term "planetary" comes from the nineteenth century,
when astronomers saw that they looked vaguely like the
newly-discovered Uranus and Neptune in their primitive
telescopes. (Remember that this was a time before people
knew that there were different galaxies.) The name has stuck
ever since.

These nebulae are the creations of ancient supernovas - the

violent explosions of massive stars at the end of their lives.
The most famous example is the Crab Nebula, created by a
well-documented supernova on July 4, 1054.
Supernova
Remnant

The supernova remnant pictured to the right was taken by the

Hubble Space Telescope of nebula N132D in the Large
Magellanic Cloud - a small, satellite galaxy of the Milky
Way.

The Formation of Stars

The first step in the birth of a star is to wait. Dust, gas, and other materials sit around in nebulae, and
wait for possibly millennia until a passing star, or some other heavy body passes by and stirs things
up a bit.
When a heavy body passes near or through the nebula, its gravity causes swirls and ripples. It would
be like spreading marbles out on a trampoline, and then rolling a large lead ball around the edge, or
through the middle. The other marbles would roll around, and clump together near the path the lead
one took. It is no different in a nebula when a star passes by. To add to the marble analogy: When the
marbles gather in places, the dip in the trampoline causes other marbles to accumulate in the same
spot until there are just a few piles of marbles, with few in between. This process is called
"accretion."
The "piles" of matter continue to group together in the nebula until they are gigantic clumps of dust
and gas. At this stage, the clump is called a protostar. As the protostar becomes larger, gravity
squeezes it tighter, causing pressure to build and for the heat to increase. If you have ever pumped a
bicycle tire, you know that when the air becomes compressed, it becomes hotter.
Then, when the pressure in the center, the core, reaches a temperature of 10,000,000 K (18,000,000
F), hydrogen fusion is initiated. Now, the protostar has become a star. It shines with its own light. Its
solar wind quickly pushes away the rest of the dust and gas in its vicinity.
NOTE: A protostar that does not become hot enough to begin fusion, yet is no longer surrounded by
its parent nebula is called a brown dwarf. A brown dwarf usually has between 1/12 and 1/100 of the
sun's mass. It can still produce heat by contracting very slowly (i.e. decreasing its equatorial diameter
by a few millimeters a year), yet does not shine as a star does. Jupiter produces heat in this way,
although it is too small to be considered a brown dwarf. Most brown dwarfs have an average surface
temperature of 1,800 K (2,700 F). There are an estimated one trillion brown dwarfs in our galaxy
alone, and some think they may be a source of the universe's missing mass.