The Life of a Star

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The Stellar Nebula - Where a Star is Born

  The picture on the right, part of the Eagle Nebula, shows stars forming from clouds of gas and dust lingering in space. These clouds of particles, held together loosely by their own collective gravity, can sit for thousands of years before being stirred by the gravity of a passing star. If the passing star stirs the matter sufficiently (presuming there is enough matter present), the gas and dust come closer together. The gravitational force pulls everything toward a central point, which becomes the center of mass of the new star. If there is not enough matter to cause nuclear fusion, a brown dwarf star is formed. The critical mass for new star formation is roughly 1.52 E+29 kilograms (80 times the mass of Jupiter). If this critical mass is present, a star is born. The mass is referred to as a protostar until nuclear fusion begins.                              Photo courtesy of NASA, John Hester and Paul Sowen

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