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star formation
Sign in to saveAlso known as astrogenesis, stellar formation, star birth, stellar birth
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
Star formation is the process where dense clumps of gas and dust in space, called stellar nurseries, collapse under their own gravity to eventually become stars. Understanding how stars form helps us explain the origin and evolution of galaxies, including our own.
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Westerhout 51 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. As a branch of astronomy, star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium (ISM) and giant molecular clouds (GMC) as precursors to the star formation process, and the study of protostars and young stellar objects as its immediate products. It is closely related to planet formation, another branch of astronomy. Star formation theory, as well as accounting for the formation of a single star, must also account for the statistics of binary stars and the initial mass function. Most stars do not form in isolation but as part of a group of stars referred to as star clusters or stellar associations.
First stars