Gas nebulae

History of Nebulae

  • Observing Strings

    John Bevis, an English physicist and amateur astronomer observed the strings of gas and light fragmentation within certain star clusters.
  • Discovered

    Discovery Channel Discovered by Philippe Loys de Cheseaux in 1745-6.
  • Charles Messier

    Charles Messier
    Charles Messier captured and cataloged the first nebula. It was located within Vulpecula(M27).
  • Antoine Darquier-Toulouse

    Antoine Darquier-Toulouse
    Documented the first nebula sighting through a telescope. "A faint, but perfectly outlined planet. And it is as large as Jupiter, but it resembles a fading planet." This was later classified as the Ring Nebula
  • Coining a Name

    Coining a Name
    William Herschel coined the name 'planetary nebulae' for certain nebulae that held a resemblence to Uranus.
  • New Nebula- NGC 1514

    New Nebula- NGC 1514
    Herschel discovered a planetary nebulae that was physically associated with a bright central star.
  • A Nebula Around Sirius

    A Nebula Around Sirius
    Friedrich Bessel guessed that there might be a nebula around the star, Sirius. His predictions were based off of the spectroscope.
  • Alvan Clark

    Alvan Clark
    Alvan Clark discovers Sirius B star which was thousands of times fainter than the Sirius A.
  • William Huggins Discovers Gas

    William Huggins Discovers Gas
    Huggins uses a spectroscopy to identify nebulae within constellations. The constellation Draco was where he found different gas compositions in nebulae, based on the color of gases.
  • Period: to

    Photography

    Telescopes progressed to the point where viewing spacial objects outside of our atmosphere became easily done. More and more photographs were being taken of these unexplored gas pockets, dust clouds, and star clusters. This range of photography led to the discoveries of many other nebulas, such as the Crab, Horsehead, Dragon, Ring, and Lagoon Nebulae.
  • Lord Rosse Catagorizes the First Crab Nebula

  • White Dwarf Star Recorded

    White Dwarf Star Recorded
    Astronomers Henry Norris Russell and Edward Pickering, recorded the first spectrum of the white dwarf star, Omicron Eridani B.
  • Voronstov Classifies Nebulae

    Voronstov Classifies Nebulae
    Boris Voronstov-Velyaminor classified planetary nebulae into 6 different classes based on their shape.
    1. Stellar Image.
    2. Smooth Disk
    3. Irregular Disk
    4. Ring Structure.
    5. Irregular Form
    6. Anomalous Form
  • NASA is Established

    NASA is Established
  • NASA's IRAS Finds Nebulae

    NASA's IRAS Finds Nebulae
    NASA's Infra Red Astronomical Satelite (IRAS) identifies planetary nebulae as a major source of complex interstellar matter.
  • Cat's Eye Nebula Released

    Cat's Eye Nebula Released
    Astronomers release pictures of different nebulae, including the Cat's Eye Nebula. These pictures revealed details about the morphology of planetary nebulae.
  • Binary Star Systems

    Binary Star Systems
    Astronomers announce that most nebulae form in binary star systems.