Gaseous nebulae as a research area encompasses the observational, theoretical, and numerical study of ionized, atomic, and molecular gas clouds in interstellar and circumstellar environments, focusing on their physical conditions, chemical composition, and dynamical evolution. Research addresses radiative transfer, emission-line diagnostics, photoionization and shock-excitation mechanisms, and the impact of stellar feedback from massive stars and supernovae on nebular structure. It also investigates nebulae as laboratories for plasma physics, dust–gas interactions, and nucleosynthesis yields, and as probes of galactic structure, star-formation processes, and the interstellar medium across different metallicities and cosmic epochs.
This image, taken with ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), seems to have captured a cosmic hawk as it spans its wings. While the dark clouds in the middle of the image make up the head and body of the bird of prey, the filaments ...
Astronomy
Mar 3, 2026
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A mysterious bar-shaped cloud of iron has been discovered inside the iconic Ring Nebula by a European team led by astronomers at University College London (UCL) and Cardiff University.
Astronomy
Jan 17, 2026
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A team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of astronomical object—a starless, gas-rich, dark-matter cloud that is considered a "relic" or remnant of early galaxy formation. Nicknamed "Cloud-9," ...
Astronomy
Jan 5, 2026
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an uncommon sight—the death of a low-mass star—in this image of the Calabash Nebula released on Feb. 3, 2017.
Astronomy
Dec 15, 2025
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When a gas is highly energized, its electrons get torn from the parent atoms, resulting in a plasma—the oft-forgotten fourth state of matter (along with solid, liquid, and gas). When we think of plasmas, we normally think ...
Plasma Physics
Dec 8, 2025
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In November 1572, a brilliant new star appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia, shining so brightly that it was visible during the day. Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe carefully documented this celestial phenomenon, and the ...
Astronomy
Oct 27, 2025
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By analyzing the data from the HASH database, astronomers have conducted a comprehensive study of nearly 1,500 planetary nebulae in the Milky Way galaxy. Results of the study, published October 15 on the arXiv preprint server, ...
The universe is a slow-changing place. While it's mostly true that the heavens and the deep-sky objects in it will look largely the same across an average human lifetime, there are dramatic examples that defy this trend.
Astronomy
Sep 21, 2025
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By analyzing the available optical spectroscopic data, astronomers have investigated a nearby planetary nebula designated IC 418, also known as the Spirograph Nebula. Results of the study, published August 20 in The Astrophysical ...
Since the discovery of planetary nebulae in the late 1700s, astronomers have learned that these expanding shells of glowing gas expelled by low-intermediate mass stars late in their lives can come in all shapes and sizes. ...
Astronomy
Jul 30, 2025
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