NEBULAE Travel Bug Origins Tag

NEBULAE  is destined to visit the stars of the universe!  NEBULAE wants to visit observatories, telescopes, planetariums, star parties, launch and other astronomy sites, including Earthcaches, in the USA and around the world. Feel free to add stars to the dog tag chain. 

Ultimately, NEBULAE wants to come home to visit PINE MOUNTAIN OBSERVATORY outside of Bend, Oregon, then back to Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Please take and post photos of all of the wonderful places visisted. 

Nebulae are star-forming regions of the universe.

From Seasky.org: The word "nebula" is derived from the Latin word for "clouds". Indeed, a nebula is a cosmic cloud of gas and dust floating in space. More than one nebula are called nebulae. Nebulae are the basic building blocks of the universe. They contain the elements from which stars and solar systems are built. They are also among the most beautiful objects in the universe, glowing with rich colors and swirls of light. Stars inside these clouds of gas cause them to glow with beautiful reds, blues, and greens. These colors are the result of different elements within the nebula. Most nebulae are composed of about 90% hydrogen, 10% helium, and 0.1% heavy elements such as carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron. These clouds of matter are also quite large. In fact, they are among the largest objects in the galaxy. Many of them are dozens or even hundreds of light-years across. Nebulae have been divided into five major categories. These are emission nebulae, reflection nebulae, dark nebulae, planetary nebulae, and supernova remnants. Emission and reflection nebulae tend to be fuzzy in appearance and lack any noticeable shape or structure. They are also known as diffuse nebulae. 

From Wikipedia: A nebula (Latin for "cloud";^[2] pl. nebulae, nebulæ, or nebulas) is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Originally, nebula was a name for any diffuse astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy, for instance, was once referred to as the Andromeda Nebula (and spiral galaxies in general as "spiral nebulae") before the true nature of galaxies was confirmed in the early 20th century by Vesto Slipher, Edwin Hubble and others.

Most nebulae are of vast size, even hundreds of light years in diameter.^[3] Although denser than the space surrounding them, most nebulae are far less dense than any vacuum created on Earth – a nebular cloud the size of the Earth would have a total mass of only a few kilograms. Many nebulae are visible due to their fluorescence caused by the embedded hot stars, while others are so diffuse they can only be detected with long exposures and special filters. Some nebulae, are variably illuminated by T Tauri variable stars. 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 believed to form planets and other planetary system objects.

The range of objects called nebula are very diverse, have diverse origins, and final ends.

Some famous NEBULA are: The pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula, Omega, Horsehead, Cat's Eye, Carina, Crab, and Orion Nebula.