my friends and i are high school students working on an astronomy research project. we would like to do something related to nebulas. however, we don't know how nebulas can be analyzed or what they are used for. we also don't know what kind of equipment we would need to see or photograph nebulas. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thank you
Nebulae are, I believe, studied mainly by spectroscopic analysis, which allows us to determine their composition. They are studied in order to learn more about the birth of stars in so-called stellar nurseries, and the death of stars, in planetary nebulae. Most nebulae require a telescope to be seen, but for a list of the most visible nebulae, look at Charles Messier's list of 'objects' here: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/history/m-cat-or.html
You can witness some nebulae with a decent average telescope, and if you get away from the light pollution of the city. If you look at Orion "the pot" of the second set of stars in the "handle of the pot", under a telescope, you will see an amazing nebulae, close to home. I have just started astronomy myself myfriends, and I've gotta say... It's a jungle out there !
My main astronomy website is http://www.maddad.org/astronomy/ Although I've got a page devoted to nebulae ( http://www.maddad.org/astronomy/nebula.htm ), an older page ( http://www.maddad.org/astronomy/1410.htm ) talks about the mechanics behind them. Someday I'll organize the information better.
