Nebulae?

[Ponoobersie]

Hi guys and girls

This is a little of the beaten track but, does anyone know what causes/makes a nebulae? as in how are they made...by an explosion of some sort, a dust/gas cloud that has just accumulated in one area...or...??

Thanks

Steve

[paul schofield]

From what I know they are caused by exploding stars throwing off their layers into space ie hydrogen, helium oxygen all the way down to the heavier elements up to iron. Kind of like a huge recycling operation.

[gdheib0430]

In the beginning when protons and electrons started forming atoms they began forming hydrogen gas under the weight of gravity and started the first clouds which may or may not account for the hydrogen we see today, but all other complex clouds are a result of a super nova...the hydrogen should be from the beginning as stars usually exhaust all their hydrogen with fusion.

[Ponoobersie]

Thanks for the answers, I thought that might be the case, but that pretty much clears it up!

[Tinker1947]

This should help....

Nebulae Simplified

[Black Knight]

[...] the hydrogen should be from the beginning as stars usually exhaust all their hydrogen with fusion.

In their cores anyway ...

[John]

There are different types of nebulae and each has a different story. This link helps (the 1st 3 objects described are galaxies, clusters though):

Types of Nebulae

Edit: Tinker1947's link is good too. Interestingly different types of nebulae need different observing techniques, some respond to certain filters and some are better viewed without filters.