Hubble Telescope captures violent process of star formation

New Delhi : When it comes to gazing at stars, they are among the most relaxed and calm feelings humans can feel. But, have you ever wondered how are they formed? Hubble telescope has captured one such incident and it looks like a violent one.

A mass of gas in a corner of space comes together. Dense clumps of this cloud coalesce due to processes known as local stellar wind. The gas is thus pushed together. When the density reaches a high enough point, clumps of gas collapse under their own gravity and form a spinning protostar. The material around the star forms a disc and gets attracted to the star due to its gravity thereby increasing the gravity and carrying the process of star formation ahead.

Protostars shine with the heat energy released by clouds contracting around them and the accumulation of material from the nearby gas and dust. Eventually, enough material collects, and the core of a protostar becomes hot and dense enough for nuclear fusion to begin, and the transformation into a star is complete.

Hubble Telescope captured one such incident and showed a protostar which has been given a designation J1672835.29-763111.64.

The region of space around this protostar is still dusty. That means the protostar is still in its infancy and matter is still being spooled into it making it bigger. 

This protostar is roughly 400 to 600 light-years away.

Information Source: NASA