Protostars are the earliest stage in the stellar formation process, representing the phase when a collapsing cloud of gas and dust begins to form a star. This phase occurs within molecular clouds, often visible as dark nebulae, where regions of higher density start to contract under gravity, initiating the core’s formation. As the core contracts, it heats up, primarily due to gravitational energy being converted into thermal energy, eventually becoming hot enough for nuclear fusion to begin. Protostars are enveloped in a cocoon of dust and gas, making them invisible in optical wavelengths but detectable in infrared and submillimeter ranges. They often exhibit outflows and jets, which help in shedding angular momentum, allowing more material to fall into the forming star. The protostellar phase continues until the star has accreted enough mass to initiate stable hydrogen fusion in its core, transitioning into a main-sequence star. This developmental stage is crucial for understanding the birth and early evolution of stars.
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers has discovered a surprisingly weak and wildly disorganized magnetic field very near a newly…
Researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics present new models of star-forming filamentary clouds in order to quantify their properties and to predict their evolution….
Using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers show a stellar explosion in the Orion Nebula in unprecedented detail. Stellar explosions are most…
Astronomers have discovered an extraordinary outburst in the massive protostellar system NGC6334I-MM1. The outburst, apparently triggered by an avalanche of star-forming gas crashing onto the…
New research from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics concludes that ten protostellar candidates are indeed protostars even though they are not presently embedded in a…
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers has made the first ever resolved observation of a water snow line within a…
A newly published study analyzes the time evolution of the luminosity of a cluster of Population III protostars formed in the early universe, revealing that…
Astronomers used observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array to identify spiral arms of molecular gas and dust around binary protostars, revealing for the first…
New research from the Carnegie Institution for Science helps to explain why binary stars are so abundant. Washington, D.C. — New modeling studies from Carnegie’s…
A team of astronomers has discovered that filaments of star-forming gas near the Orion Nebula may be brimming with pebble-size particles. If confirmed, these particles…
Using the Herschel Space Observatory to probe the turbulent beginnings of a Sun-like star, astronomers have discovered evidence of mighty stellar winds that could solve…
Using ALMA, a team of astronomers studied the relationship between highly luminous O-type stars and nearby protostars, finding that protostars within 0.1 light-years of an…
This new composite image shows NGC 7538, a stellar nursery for massive stars located roughly 9,000 light-years away. The billowing clouds portrayed in this…
Astronomers have discovered an unexpected chemical change in the transition zone between the infalling envelope and the gas disk around young protostar L1527. The international…