A Basic Model for Star Birth

Pictures

Here is a sequence of pictures of an imaginary cross section through the cloud to illustrate how we can imagine a star being born.
  1. Starting picture, part of a giant molecular cloud, cool and dense.
  2. The cloud starts to contract. The cloud fragment is about 104 AU in size.
  3. Smaller scale. The cloud continues to pull itself together
  4. Still smaller scale. The cloud is smaller and is rotating.
  5. Still smaller scale. A protostar has condensed in the middle. The protostar is about 1 AU in size; the whole picture is about 100 AU in size

ASTR 122 course home page

Updated 7 November 2007

Davison E. Soper, Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 USA