{"id":26811,"date":"2025-04-29T13:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=26811"},"modified":"2025-04-29T13:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:24:10","slug":"molecular-glow-in-the-dark-cloud-discovered-close-to-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=26811","title":{"rendered":"Molecular, Glow-in-the-Dark Cloud Discovered Close to Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cloud, named Eos, is chock-full of molecular hydrogen and possibly rife with star-forming potential in the future.<\/p>\n

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A newly discovered potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest structures in the sky.<\/span>Thomas M\u00fcller (HdA\/MPIA) and Thavisha Dharmawardena (NYU)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Stars and planets are born inside swirling clouds of cosmic gas and dust that are brimming with hydrogen and other molecular ingredients. On Monday, astronomers revealed the discovery of the closest known cloud to Earth, a colossal, crescent-shaped blob of star-forming potential.<\/p>\n

Named Eos, after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud was found lurking some 300 light-years from our solar system and is as wide as 40 of Earth\u2019s moon lined up across the sky. According to Blakesley Burkhart, an astrophysicist at Rutgers University, it is the first molecular cloud to be detected using the fluorescent nature of hydrogen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to see this cloud on the sky, it\u2019s enormous,\u201d said Dr. Burkhart, who announced the discovery<\/a> with colleagues in the journal Nature Astronomy. And \u201cit is literally glowing in the dark,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Identifying and studying clouds like Eos, particularly based on their hydrogen content, could reshape astronomers\u2019 understanding of how much material in our galaxy is available to produce planets and stars. It will also help them measure the creation and destruction rates of the fuel that can drive such formations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe are, for the first time, seeing this previously hidden reservoir of hydrogen that can form stars,\u201d said Thavisha Dharmawardena, an astronomer at New York University who is an author of the study. After Eos, she said, astronomers are \u201choping to find many more\u201d such hydrogen-heavy clouds.<\/p>\n

Molecular hydrogen, which consists of two hydrogen atoms bound together, is the most abundant material in the universe. Stellar nurseries are chock-full of it. But it is difficult to detect the molecule from the ground because it glows in far-ultraviolet wavelengths that are readily absorbed by the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

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The cloud, named Eos, is chock-full of molecular hydrogen and possibly rife with star-forming potential in the future.A newly discovered potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest structures in the sky.Thomas M\u00fcller (HdA\/MPIA) and Thavisha Dharmawardena (NYU)Stars and planets are born inside swirling clouds of cosmic gas and dust that are brimming with hydrogen and other molecular ingredients. On Monday, astronomers revealed the discovery of the closest known cloud to Earth, a colossal, crescent-shaped blob of star-forming potential.Named Eos, after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud was found lurking some 300 light-years from our solar system and is as wide as 40 of Earth\u2019s moon lined up across the sky. According to Blakesley Burkhart, an astrophysicist at Rutgers University, it is the first molecular cloud to be detected using the fluorescent nature of hydrogen.\u201cIf you were to see this cloud on the sky, it\u2019s enormous,\u201d said Dr. Burkhart, who announced the discovery with colleagues in the journal Nature Astronomy. And \u201cit is literally glowing in the dark,\u201d she added.Identifying and studying clouds like Eos, particularly based on their hydrogen content, could reshape astronomers\u2019 understanding of how much material in our galaxy is available to produce planets and stars. It will also help them measure the creation and destruction rates of the fuel that can drive such formations.\u201cWe are, for the first time, seeing this previously hidden reservoir of hydrogen that can form stars,\u201d said Thavisha Dharmawardena, an astronomer at New York University who is an author of the study. After Eos, she said, astronomers are \u201choping to find many more\u201d such hydrogen-heavy clouds.Molecular hydrogen, which consists of two hydrogen atoms bound together, is the most abundant material in the universe. Stellar nurseries are chock-full of it. But it is difficult to detect the molecule from the ground because it glows in far-ultraviolet wavelengths that are readily absorbed by the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26813,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26814,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811\/revisions\/26814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}