What are the clouds of interstellar dust, said to be the birthplace of stars?
Dark nebula Dark nebula A dark nebula or absorption nebula is a type of interstellar cloud that is so dense that it obscures the light from objects behind it, such as background stars and emission or reflection nebulae. The extinction of the light is caused by interstellar dust grains located in the coldest, densest parts of larger molecular clouds. Clusters and large complexes of dark nebulae are associated with Giant Molecular Clouds. Isolated small dark nebulae are called Bok globules. Like other interstellar dust or material, things it obscures are only visible using radio waves in radio astronomy or infrared in infrared
Cosmic dust be possible. The arguments are that: given an observed typical grain diameter "a", the time for a grain to attain "a", and given the temperature of interstellar gas, it would take considerably longer than the age of the Universe for interstellar grains to form. On the other hand, grains are seen to have recently formed in the vicinity of nearby stars, in nova and supernova ejecta, and in R Coronae Borealis variable stars which seem to eject discrete clouds containing both gas and dust. So mass loss from stars is unquestionably where the refractory cores of grains formed. Most dust