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Article: The winds of starbirth: stellar winds may play a crucial role in the formation of sun-like stars.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- June 30, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Winds of Starbirth
In the Milky Way, stars form within dusty, dense clumps of material scattered throughout gigantic clouds of molecular hydrogen. Drawn together by gravity, this cold gas and the accompanying dust gather into huge balls that eventually become dense enough at their cores to initiate nuclear fusion.
But this simple, serene picture belies the true fury of starbirth. Recent observations reveal an intriguing pattern of violent, high-speed discharges, in which nascent stars apparently eject vast quantities of material even as they amass gas and dust (SN: 7/8/89, p.20; 7/22/89, p.55).
The paradoxical idea that an embryonic star ...