Apparently I’m referring to the “cosmic cliffs”. What is all that stuff? Is it solid or gas? So many questions.
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I bet if you wore a light years jet pack you’d shoot right through it and never know otherwise
So, before we get into what the “smoke” is made of, let’s chat for a second about how big this thing actually is. The tallest “cliff” spans a distance of 7.5 light years. I hope you can understand what a light year is for that to make any sense.
As for it’s composition, it’s both gas and solid. In both cases, it is super heated gas/dust being just F’d up by some super massive stars that are forming. It is being pushed outward via extreme radiation and solar winds.
Lest anyone have illusions about the “solidity” of these nebulae:
Typical densities are in the range of 100 to 10,000 particles per cm 3. This is much more dense than the general interstellar medium (1 particle per cm 3 ), but much, much less dense than anything you are used to – air is around 10 19 particles per cm 3. You would very easily see your own hand in a nebula. (From physics.stackexchange.com. cm 3 means a cubic centimeter, and 10 19 means 10 to the 19th power)
So despite appearances, you’re still looking at a pretty good vacuum.
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