anneguineapig

A Nebula is a cloud of dust and gas. The plural of Nebula is Nebulae. There are many different types of nebulae and they are all formed differently. Most of the gas in a nebula is Hydrogen gas. Below are a few types of different nebulae that are common or well-known. The first nebula was formed around the same time as the big bang, which is 15 billion years ago.

Stella Nursery Nebula 
Stars form from within these nebulae. These are lit up by the light that the new star creates.

Planetary Nebula 
This has nothing to do with planets. It is formed when a huge star explodes and the core of that star is exposed.

Emission Nebula
This is named because it glows. When electrons and protons combine to create a hydrogen atom they emit red light.

Reflection Nebula
These nebula are named because they reflect the light of nearby stars. They are usually blue as this light is easier to reflect than red light.

Ring Nebula
A cloud of gas that is in a ring shape.

Crab Nebula
This was formed from the remains of a supernova explosion. It can be found in the centre of the constellation Taurus.

Horsehead Nebula
This looks like a horses head. It is a cloud of dust that is located in constellation Orion. It has bright edges because there is an emission Nebula behind it.

There is also another type of nebula called Bok globule. This is extremely different to the other types of nebula. It can be formed from one or more nebula grouped together. These nebulae are so dark and dense that they block out the light from stars behind it.