The Dark Cloud of the Wolf

The space between stars is not empty. Dark, cold, ghostlike material lurks there, as thin as a politician's promise. Astronomers call this material "dust," but don't be fooled; it's not like the little tumbleweeds you find under your desk. This stuff is made of grains of minerals and complex carbon-based molecules much like soot, created in the atmospheres of stars and blown out into the depths of space. In the denser clouds of dust there might be a million particles in a single cubic centimeter...