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The W51 nebula in Aquila - one of the largest star factories in the Milky Way (August 25, 2020). 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. [1]
Representative lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses The change in size with time of a Sun-like star Artist's depiction of the life cycle of a Sun-like star, starting as a main-sequence star at lower left then expanding through the subgiant and giant phases, until its outer envelope is expelled to form a planetary nebula at upper right Chart of stellar evolution
Composite image showing young stars in and around molecular cloud Cepheus B.. This is a list of star-forming regions located in the Milky Way Galaxy and in the Local Group.Star formation occurs in molecular clouds which become unstable to gravitational collapse, and these complexes may contain clusters of young stars and regions of ionized gas called H II regions.
A characteristic of population II stars is that despite their lower overall metallicity, they often have a higher ratio of "alpha elements" (elements produced by the alpha process, like oxygen and neon) relative to iron (Fe) as compared with population I stars; current theory suggests that this is the result of type II supernovas being more ...
Groups of stars form together in star clusters, before dissolving into co-moving associations. A prominent grouping that is visible to the naked eye is the Ursa Major moving group, which is around 80 light-years away within the Local Bubble. The nearest star cluster is Hyades, which lies at the edge of the
The most powerful telescope to be launched into space has made history by detecting a record number of new stars in a distant galaxy. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, history's largest and most ...
Main-sequence stars vary in surface temperature from approximately 2,000 to 50,000 K, whereas more-evolved stars – in particular, newly-formed white dwarfs – can have surface temperatures above 100,000 K. [3] Physically, the classes indicate the temperature of the star's atmosphere and are normally listed from hottest to coldest.
The evolution of binary star and higher-order star systems is intensely researched since so many stars have been found to be members of binary systems. Around half of Sun-like stars, and an even higher proportion of more massive stars, form in multiple systems, and this may greatly influence such phenomena as novae and supernovae, the formation ...