Galaxy’s cloud catalog reveals hydrogen fog
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/star_nurseries_free_0.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
About half of the Whirlpool galaxy's hydrogen molecules (blue) fill the spiral in a foglike layer, not in giant, individual clouds where stars form. The finding that has implications for understanding how new stars form.
T. A. Rector, PAWS/IRAM/HST/NASA