Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, commonly referred to as "stellar nurseries", collapse into spheres of plasma to form stars. As a branch of astronomy star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium and giant molecular clouds (GMC) as precursors to the star formation process and the study of young stellar objects and planet formation as its immediate products. 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.
Read more about Star Formation: Protostar, Observations, Low Mass and High Mass Star Formation
Famous quotes containing the words star and/or formation:
“Never tell me that not one star of all
That slip from heaven at night and softly fall
Has been picked up with stones to build a wall.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
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—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)