Space Clouds
Potential apocalypse?
A Little About Them
The dark clouds in space are called absorption nebulas or dark nebulas. An absorption nebula is a cloud of gas and dust which blocks light from the regions of space behind it. As light from space reaches an absorption nebula it is absorbed by it and does not pass through. Absorption nebulas do not create their own light. It is hard to find an absorption nebula unless it is silhouetted against much brighter region of space.
Reality, not likely
- Fortunately, the skies appears to be clear for now. The nearest giant molecular cloud, Lynds 1641, is roughly 1,566 light-years away and seems content to form its own stars instead of moving in on ours.
Fear Factor
- These giant molecular clouds span several light-years across taking a very long time to pass through
- if all that stuff were to drift through our solar system, the amount of sunlight able to reach the Earth would diminish
- This would cause dark skies at noon and the rumblings of a new ice age.
- What’s more, GMCs pack a great deal of hydrogen that can alter Earth’s time-tested recipe for atmosphere to produce more rain and even less breathable oxygen.
- The gravity of these clouds can draw in meteorites and planet size chunks of ice and rock toward Earth
Journey through the Cosmos - Space Clouds