Nebulae

                                

                                                                                                                                                                       Nebulae

Carina nebula

Stars are glowing balls. They also have a special life cycle like us. They are born, grow old and die. Like people no two stars are exactly the same. Besides stars and planets, space is filled with giant clouds of gas and dust. These clouds are called nebulae. Nebulae are made up of dust, hydrogen, helium, and other ionized gases. These huge clouds are where a star's life begins in the universe. A single nebula may have enough gas and dust to form hundreds or thousands of stars. Some nebulae (more than one nebula) come from the gas and dust thrown out by the explosion of a dying star, such as a supernova.  The dust and gases in a nebula are very spread out, but gravity can slowly begin to pull together clumps of dust and gas.    Eventually, the clump of dust and gas gets so big that it collapses from its own gravity. The collapse causes the material at the center of the cloud to heat up-and this                                                      hot core is the beginning of a star.                                                                                                                            The closest known nebula to Earth is called the Helix Nebula.  It is a remnant of a dying star. It is approximately 700 light-years away from the Earth.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Helix nebula