A nebula is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. In these regions, the formations of gas, dust, and other materials "clump" together to form denser regions, which attract further matter, and eventually will become dense enough to form stars. The remaining material is then thought to form planets and other planetary system objects.
A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives.
An H II region or HII region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light years, and density from a few to about a million particles per cubic centimetre. The Orion Nebula, now known to be an H II region, was observed in 1610 by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc by telescope, the first such object discovered.
NGC 2346 is a planetary nebula near the celestial equator in the constellation of Monoceros, less than a degree to the ESE of Delta Monocerotis. It is informally known as the Butterfly Nebula. The nebula is bright and conspicuous with a visual magnitude of 9.6, and has been extensively studied. Among its most remarkable characteristics is its unusually cool central star, which is a spectroscopic binary, and its unusual shape.
Minkowski 2-9, abbreviated M2-9 is a planetary nebula that was discovered by Rudolph Minkowski in 1947. It is located about 2,100 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. This bipolar nebula takes the peculiar form of twin lobes of material that emanate from a central star. Astronomers have dubbed this object as the Twin Jet Nebula because of the jets believed to cause the shape of the lobes. Its form also resembles the wings of a butterfly. The nebula was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 1990s.
The Egg Nebula is a bipolar protoplanetary nebula approximately 3,000 light-years away from Earth. Its peculiar properties were first described in 1975 using data from the 11 µm survey obtained with sounding rocket by Air Force Geophysical Laboratory (AFGL) in 1971 to 1974.
The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) is a region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram populated by evolved cool luminous stars. This is a period of stellar evolution undertaken by all low- to intermediate-mass stars (about 0.5 to 8 solar masses) late in their lives.
Herbig–Haro (HH) objects are bright patches of nebulosity associated with newborn stars. They are formed when narrow jets of partially ionised gas ejected by stars collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at several hundred kilometres per second. Herbig–Haro objects are commonly found in star-forming regions, and several are often seen around a single star, aligned with its rotational axis. Most of them lie within about one parsec of the source, although some have been observed several parsecs away. HH objects are transient phenomena that last around a few tens of thousands of years. They can change visibly over timescales of a few years as they move rapidly away from their parent star into the gas clouds of interstellar space. Hubble Space Telescope observations have revealed the complex evolution of HH objects over the period of a few years, as parts of the nebula fade while others brighten as they collide with the clumpy material of the interstellar medium.
A protoplanetary nebula or preplanetary nebula is an astronomical object which is at the short-lived episode during a star's rapid evolution between the late asymptotic giant branch (LAGB) phase and the subsequent planetary nebula (PN) phase. A PPN emits strongly in infrared radiation, and is a kind of reflection nebula. It is the second-from-the-last high-luminosity evolution phase in the life cycle of intermediate-mass stars.
The Red Rectangle Nebula, so called because of its red color and unique rectangular shape, is a protoplanetary nebula in the Monoceros constellation. Also known as HD 44179, the nebula was discovered in 1973 during a rocket flight associated with the AFCRL Infrared Sky Survey called Hi Star. The binary system at the center of the nebula was first discovered by Robert Grant Aitken in 1915.
A bipolar outflow comprises two continuous flows of gas from the poles of a star. Bipolar outflows may be associated with protostars, or with evolved post-AGB stars.
A bipolar nebula is a type of nebula characterized by two lobes either side of a central star. About 10-20% of planetary nebulae are bipolar.
HH 46/47 is a complex of Herbig–Haro objects, located around 450 parsecs away in a Bok globule near the Gum nebula. Jets of partially ionized gas emerging from a young star produce visible shocks upon impact with the ambient medium. Discovered in 1977, it is one of the most studied HH objects and the first jet to be associated with young stars was found in HH 46/47. Four emission nebula, HH 46, HH 47A, HH 47C and HH 47D and a jet, HH 47B, have been identified in the complex. It also contains a mostly unipolar molecular outflow, and two large bow shocks on opposite sides of the source star. The overall size of the complex is about 3 parsecs.
An S-type star is a cool giant with approximately equal quantities of carbon and oxygen in its atmosphere. The class was originally defined in 1922 by Paul Merrill for stars with unusual absorption lines and molecular bands now known to be due to s-process elements. The bands of zirconium monoxide (ZrO) are a defining feature of the S stars.
V Hydrae is a carbon star in the constellation Hydra. To date perhaps uniquely in our galaxy it has plasma ejections/eruptions on a grand scale every 8.5 years caused by its near, unseen companion in an 8.5 year orbit, inferred by its ultraviolet excess and periastron passage likely through the outer parts of the star itself.
An O-type star is a hot, blue-white star of spectral type O in the Yerkes classification system employed by astronomers. They have temperatures in excess of 30,000 kelvin (K). Stars of this type have strong absorption lines of ionised helium, strong lines of other ionised elements, and hydrogen and neutral helium lines weaker than spectral type B.
IRAS 19475+3119 is a protoplanetary nebula in the constellation of Cygnus, 15,000 light-years away. The central star, V2513 Cygni, is an F-type post-AGB star.
KjPn 8 is a bipolar planetary nebula which was discovered by M.A. Kazaryan and Eh. S. Parsamyan in 1971 and independently by Luboš Kohoutek in 1972.
HM Sagittae is a dusty-type symbiotic nova in the northern constellation of Sagitta. It was discovered by O. D. Dokuchaeva and colleagues in 1975 when it increased in brightness by six magnitudes. The object displays an emission line spectrum similar to a planetary nebula and was detected in the radio band in 1977. Unlike a classical nova, the optical brightness of this system did not rapidly decrease with time, although it showed some variation. It displays activity in every band of the electromagnetic spectrum from X-ray to radio.
CIT 6 is a carbon star in the constellation Leo Minor. It is a semiregular variable star, with a period of about 628 days, and has been given the variable star designation RW Leonis Minoris. It is perhaps the second most studied carbon star, after CW Leonis. CIT 6 was discovered in 1966 by a group at the California Institute of Technology who found it using the same 62-inch infrared telescope on Mount Wilson that was used to produce the Two-Micron Sky Survey. It is the second brightest carbon star in the near-infrared, after CW Leonis.
