Nebulas

        I went for my evening walk and listened to astronomy lecture on Nebulas. A Nebula is interstellar dust consisting of hydrogen, helium, and other trace elements. Nebulas are formed by dying stars that blow out their atmospheres; from Red Giants or Supernovas. New stars are born in Nebulas. There are two kinds of nebula: reflecting and emission. A Reflecting Nebula reflects light from a nearby bright star, and its color is blue. An Emission Nebula is usually the process of new stars being born within and the light from these stars or protostars excites electrons in atoms of the Nebula to higher energies to emit photons. Emission Nebulas are red in color.

        My friend Kula called to ask about the Leonid Meteor Shower that peaks on the 17th and 18th of this month. I told her that the Moon would probably washout any meteors and the smoke from the fires would be another obstacle. I’m not going to bother with this one but I might go out to take a peak just in case!

The Fate of Stars 1

Went on my evening walk re-listening to another astronomy lecture on “The Fate of Stars”, about what happens to a star when it leaves the main sequence of the HR Diagram, and also emission and reflective nebulae: Young hot stars with temps of 13,900C excite the atoms and cause them to re-emit the UV light that they absorb when they cascade down to a lower energy state drive emission nebulas. Reflective nebulas, on the other hand, are particle clouds near a star with a temp less than 13,900C and the light is reflected. The emission nebulas are the most colorful.