What is the summarized functional difference between the gas and the dust components in defining a galaxy's visible structure?
Answer
Gas is the massive, diffuse fuel reservoir, while dust is the clumpy, light-obscuring tracer that makes gas concentrations visible optically.
Gas serves as the essential, vast fuel supply for the galactic life cycle, whereas the dust acts as the clumpy marker that obscures background light, allowing optical telescopes to visually map where that fuel is concentrated.
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