NEWLY FORMED STAR RESEMBLING A CATERPILLAR: PROTOSTAR

Duyurular

Ağustos 05, 2024

This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust is a newly forming star, a protostar.

Stars are born in huge clouds of gas and dust called molecular clouds. These clouds are cold and begin to condense. Over time, gravity collapses some of these condensed regions. During this collapse, friction causes the material to heat up and eventually a protostar is formed.

A protostar has not yet acquired this ability, unlike mature stars like the Sun, which produces energy by converting hydrogen to helium in its core. A protostar gets its energy from the heat released during the collapse process. Over time, this young star will develop the capacity to produce energy and become a Sun-like star.

Image description:

Many golden stars shine in the darkness of space. Some stars have four diffraction spikes. At the centre is an elongated, bright blue cloud of gas and dust and a bright core.