The Horsehead is a dark nebula — a large cloud of dust and gas, from which new stars will eventually form, located in the constellation Orion. It is blocking the glow from the reddish gas cloud behind it. The Flame Nebula is an “emission nebulau,” which is, again, a cloud of gas and dust in which stars are now forming. The cloud glows with a reddish color (not unlike how the gas in a flourescent tube glows when an electrical current passes through it) due to t…
October 26, 2017
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October 26, 2017 1:45 p.m.
Fact versus fiction on the last frontier
It was after 10 p.m. when local astronomer Mark Paulson saw it — five illuminated disks, streaking across the sky past the maple tree in his yard.