Space & Astronomy

Mystery surrounds formation of high-mass stars

By T.K. Randall
April 30, 2018

Image: Alpha Centauri A and Planet (Artist's Concept)
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC) / CC BY 4.0 (adapted) In low-mass stars, which make up most of the stars in the universe, there is a simple relationship between the mass of the star-forming cloud of gas and dust and that of the resulting star.

In the case of high-mass stars however, it turns out that things may work rather differently.The discovery was made by researchers who had been using the Atacama Large Millimetre / Submillimetre Array (Alma) in Chile to observe a distant star-forming region known as W43-MM1.

"These findings were a complete surprise and call into question the intricate relationship between the masses of star-forming cores and the masses of the stars themselves, which has long been assumed," said study co-author Dr Kenneth Marsh.

"As a consequence, the community may need to revisit its calculations regarding the complex processes that dictate how stars are born."

Source: Independent

Tags: Stars