INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS

Psalms 147:8

Who covers the heavens with clouds,..."

Interstellar cloud is the generic name given to an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium. Depending on the density, size, and temperature of a given cloud, the hydrogen in it can be neutral (H I regions), ionized (H II regions) (i.e. a plasma), or molecular (molecular clouds). Neutral and ionized clouds are sometimes also called diffuse clouds, while molecular clouds are sometimes also referred to as dense clouds.