Star Nurseries & Graveyards

Key facts

Orion Nebula (M42)

The Orion Nebula is a giant glowing cloud of gas and dust where thousands of new stars are being born. It is the closest large star-forming region to Earth and you can see it without a telescope.

The Pleiades (M45)

The Pleiades are a family of young, hot, blue stars that were born together. Six or seven are visible to the eye, but there are more than a thousand. The blue haze around them is a dust cloud they are passing through.

Pillars of Creation

The Pillars of Creation are towering columns of cold gas and dust inside the Eagle Nebula. Inside them, new stars are forming, while intense light from nearby young stars slowly erodes them away.

Ring Nebula (M57)

The Ring Nebula is a glowing shell of gas thrown off by a dying Sun-like star. The hot leftover core, a white dwarf, makes the gas glow. Despite the name, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets.

Crab Nebula (M1)

The Crab Nebula is the wreckage of a star that exploded as a supernova. The explosion was seen on Earth in 1054. At its centre spins a pulsar, the star’s collapsed core.

Quiz

1. What is a nebula?

   • ☐ A small planet
   • ☐ A giant cloud of gas and dust
   • ☐ A black hole
   • ☐ A type of comet

2. The Crab Nebula is left over from an explosion seen on Earth in which year?

   • ☐ 1054
   • ☐ 1492
   • ☐ 1969
   • ☐ 200 BC

3. What will our Sun probably become at the end of its life?

   • ☐ A black hole
   • ☐ A planetary nebula and a white dwarf
   • ☐ A pulsar
   • ☐ A galaxy

Find it in the sky

Use the Sky Finder at seethestar.com. Tick what you find and write when you saw it.