Articles
Crockett, C. “Specks Between the Stars.” Sky & Telescope (December 2020): 28. On interstellar dust and its role in the cycle of stars.
Goodman, A. “Recycling the Universe.” Sky & Telescope November (2000): 44. Review of how stellar evolution, the interstellar medium, and supernovae all work together to recycle cosmic material.
Knapp, G. “The Stuff between the Stars.” Sky & Telescope May (1995): 20. An introduction to the interstellar medium.
Melott, A. “How Supernovae Have Affected Life.” Astronomy (April 2018): 44. On how energy and cosmic rays from supernova explosions affect nearby planets and life.
Nadis, S. “Searching for the Molecules of Life in Space.” Sky & Telescope January (2002): 32. Recent observations of water in the interstellar medium by satellite telescopes.
Olinto, A. “Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays.” Astronomy April (2014): 30. What accelerates them to such high energies.
Rimmer, A. “The Very Hungry Universe.” Astronomy (June 2022): 16. On the fundamental role of accretion in star formation.
Schilling, G. “Cosmic Power Rangers.” Sky & Telescope (May 2021): 14. On instruments for observing cosmic rays and cosmic neutrinos.
Sheehan, W. “E.E. Barnard and His Milky Way Masterpiece.” Sky & Telescope, (August 2023): 28. On his life and work, and his remarkable photographs.
Websites and Apps
Barnard, E. E., Biographical Memoir: http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/barnard-edward.pdf.
Dust Grain: https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/D/Dust+Grain. Short entry on the role of dust grains in the formation of complex molecules; from Swinburne University.
Hubble Space Telescope Images of Nebulae: https://esahubble.org/images/archive/category/nebulae. Click on any of the beautiful images in this collection, and you are taken to a page with more information; while looking at these images, you may also want to browse through the slide sequence on the meaning of colors in the Hubble pictures (https://hubblesite.org/contents/articles/the-meaning-of-light-and-color).
Interstellar Medium Online Tutorial: http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/. Nontechnical introduction to the interstellar medium (ISM) and how we study it; by the University of New Hampshire astronomy department.
James Webb Space Telescope Images of Nebulae: https://esawebb.org/images/archive/category/nebulae/. Click on any image to go to further information about what you are seeing. Remember that JWST observes infra-red rays, so the colors we see in the images are arbitrary—selected by the team to be helpful in distinguishing different materials or processes.
Messier Catalog of Nebulae, Clusters, and Galaxies: http://astropixels.com/messier/messiercat.html. Astronomer Fred Espenak provides the full catalog, with information and images. (The Wikipedia list does something similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects).
Messier, Charles: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/the-making-of-messier. More about his career and catalog.
Nebulae: What Are They?: http://www.universetoday.com/61103/what-is-a-nebula/. Concise introduction by Matt Williams.
Videos
A Bubbly Origin for the Stars Around the Sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZQ4SmDxcQ. Short video about the Local Bubble, what made it, and how we are moving through it (1:14).
Astrochemistry: Finding Molecular Fingerprints in Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMyjcEONBc0. Astronomer Tony Remijan explains how the ALMA telescope is able to identify complex molecules in the Orion Nebula (3:02).
Cosmic Ray Detector for the International Space Station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCiRuTkIkhw. Space Station Live: segment about the Calorimetric Electron Telescope mission, a cosmic ray detector at the ISS (7:23).
Cosmic Soccer Balls: Fullerenes, Buckyballs, or Buckminsterfullerenes: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/cosmic-soccer-balls. Explains what buckyballs are and illustrates how they were discovered in space (1:45).
How Charles Messier Changed Astronomy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU7vvp-eOXk. On the history of how his catalog came to be assembled and some of the best-known objects in it (6:47).
Hubble Field Guide to the Nebulae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYRDiR7peLw. Video briefly explaining the difference between types of nebulae (04:24).
Interstellar Reddening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2M80RAQB6k. Video demonstrating how reddening works, with Scott Miller of Penn State; a bit nerdy but useful (03:45).
Webb’s New View of the Pillars of Creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1__KBHIo_xs. A short guide to the new infrared image of a region of gas and dust that the Hubble made famous (1:12). (For the fuller story of the Hubble images, see: https://esahubble.org/videos/heic1501a/.)
Whole New View of the Horsehead Nebula: http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1307a/. 2013 report on nebulae in general and about the Horsehead specifically, with ESO astronomer Joe Liske (06:03).