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Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars.
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With its sensitivity to point sources and low surface brightness emission coupled with its imaging array instruments in the mm bands, the LMT can make significant contributions to this effort by measuring both the large scale low-density envelopes of giant molecular clouds and the high density cores from which stars and clusters condense. Turbulent gas flows and the magnetic properties involved are key to regulating star formation and configuring the mass distribution of cores within them.

How are stars formed? | HowStuffWorks

By studying the molecular line emission of giant molecular clouds, measurements made by the LMT can assess the conditions in which the turbulent energy spectrum departs from the norm, which may signal zones of energy dissipation or injection, and may also help in determining the role of the magnetic fields. The protostellar and protocluster cores that emerge within the cloud are the precise sites of star formation. These cores strongly radiate in the 1mm band from cold dust within them.

Imaging the thermal emission from dust grains over the extent of a molecular cloud using the LMT's millimeter-wavelength cameras provides a direct census of active or potential sites of star formation.

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The emission can be used to derive radial profiles of density for individual cores that can be compared to theoretical predictions and compile the core mass distribution function. Insight to the star formation process is further revealed by observations that probe the chemistry and kinematics of dense gas, as these trace the initial conditions prior to protostellar collapse. The gravitational collapse of dense rotating cores within a molecular cloud results in the creation of a central protostar surrounded by a flattened spinning disk of gaseous material.

In this accretion disk, mass is transported inward toward the star and angular momentum is transported outward.

The formation of stars by gravitational collapse rather than competitive accretion

Eventually, around the time newly formed planets inhibit further growth of the star, the disk moves into a phase known as a debris disk, where it resembles something not so different from our own asteroid belt, with lots of dust and planetismals. The accretion phase for low mass protostars that will become sun-like stars is intriguing, as it is always accompanied by the simultaneous presence of a high velocity ejection of material into bipolar jets that emerge perpendicular to the plane of the disk.

Although we know that accretion disks and jets of expelled material are always seen together, exactly how this pairing happens is a mystery. When the protostar becomes hot enough 7 million kelvins , its hydrogen atoms begin to fuse, producing helium and an outflow of energy in the process. We call this atomic reaction nuclear fusion.

The Life Cycle of Stars

However, the outward push of its fusion energy is still weaker than the inward pull of gravity at this point in the star's life. Think of it like a struggling business that still costs more to operate than it makes. Material continues to flow into the protostar, providing increased mass and heat. Finally, after millions of years, some of these struggling stars reach the tipping point.

If enough mass 0. Two massive gas jets erupt from the protstar and blast the remaining gas and dust clear away from its fiery surface.

Discs & planet formation

At this point, the young star stabilizes and, like a business that finally becomes lucrative, it reaches the point where its output exceeds its intake. The outward pressure from hydrogen fusion now counteracts gravity's inward pull.


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It is now a main sequence star and will remains so until it burns through all its fuel. What is the life span of a star? It all depends on its mass. A star the size of our sun takes roughly 50 million years to reach main sequence and maintains that level for approximately 10 billion years [source: NASA ].

Astronomers classify the sun as a g-type main sequence star -- the "g" indicates the sun's temperature and color. Larger, brighter stars burn out far faster, however. Wolf-Rayet stars boast masses at least 20 times that of the sun and burn 4.