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Graysith
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posted 10-14-2000 04:35 PM
Here is another simply awesome astrophoto, courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a wonderful close-up of a portion of the Trifid Nebula, another giant molecular cloud wherein stars are born. The surrounding gases are primarily hydrogen; "clumps" of this gradually contract due to gravity, until enough pressure is produced to raise the temperature to where nuclear fusion may take place. Voila! A star is born! The little finger-like projections are the target points in which the gases are contracting. This photo is somewhat misleading: nebulae such as this one are several light-years across in size. The comparatively tiny finger-like projection is longer than the length of our entire solar system. IMAGE: www.escapepod.net/graysith/TrifidNursery.jpg ------------------ |