Switch on a nebula
Follow ultraviolet energy from young stars into hydrogen gas, then watch visible light leave in new directions.
Preparing the experiment
Illustrative modelDrag to orbit · scroll to inspect
Violet dots: ultraviolet energy · red dots: visible light emitted by the gas
A model of ionisation and recombination. The gas geometry, photon paths and times are illustrative; this is not a reconstruction of the Heart Nebula.