giant molecular cloud tagged posts

A snapshot of a simulated giant molecular cloud marked with with star clusters in formation. Credit: McMaster University

Clusters of stars across the vast reaches of time and space of the entire universe were all created the same way, researchers at McMaster University have determined. Researchers Corey Howard, Ralph Pudritz and William Harris used highly-sophisticated computer simulations to re-create what happens inside gigantic clouds of concentrated gases known to give rise to clusters of stars that are bound together by gravity.

The state-of-the-art simulations follow a cloud of interstellar gas 500 light years in diameter, projecting 5 million years’ worth of evolution wrought by turbulence, gravity and feedback from intense radiation pressure produced by massive stars within forming...

Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, consists of more than 100 billion stars. New stars are formed in so-called molecular clouds, where most of the gas is in the form of molecules, and is very cold. In the Milky Way there are many different varieties of molecular clouds, with for example masses ranging from a few hundred to several million times the mass of the Sun. Photo: NASA

Star formation: 3 scientists at Niels Bohr Institute (NBI), University of Copenhagen, have carried out extensive computer simulations related to star formation. They conclude that the present idealized models are lacking when it comes to describing details in the star formation process. “Hopefully our results can also help shed more light on planet formation,” says Michael Küffmeier, astrophysicist.

In order to explain t...