Dust to dust

From: Natural History | Date: May 1, 2003| Author: | Copyright information

UNIVERSE

In the darkest regions of the Milky Way are vast interstellar clouds harboring the remains of dead stars and the nurseries for new ones.

A casual look at the Milky Way on a dark, clear night reveals a cloudy band of light-and-- dark splotches extending from horizon to horizon. With simple binoculars or a backyard telescope, the dark and boring areas of the Milky Way look like, well, dark and boring areas. But the bright areas resolve into countless stars and nebulae.

In a small book titled Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger), published in Venice in 1610, Galileo gives an ...

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