Star forming regions as a research area focuses on the physical processes governing the collapse of molecular clouds and the subsequent birth of stars and planetary systems. This field investigates the interplay of gravity, turbulence, magnetic fields, and feedback from young stellar objects using multiwavelength observations (radio to X-ray) and magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Key topics include the initial mass function, core and filament formation, protostellar accretion, disk evolution, and triggered versus spontaneous star formation. Research also addresses chemical evolution in dense cores, the role of environment (e.g., metallicity, radiation fields), and the impact of stellar feedback on regulating star formation efficiency and shaping galactic structure.
The fundamental building blocks for planet formation can exist even in environments with extreme ultraviolet radiation, according to a new study by an international collaboration led by Penn State astronomers.
Astronomy
May 21, 2025
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The JWST continues to live up to its promise by revealing things hidden from other telescopes. One of its lesser-known observations concerns free-floating planets (FFP). FFPs have no gravitational tether to any star and are ...
Planetary Sciences
May 7, 2025
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56
Using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array, astronomers have revealed for the first time the huge flow of gas near a massive star in the making that allows its rapid growth.
Astronomy
May 6, 2025
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By analyzing the data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have investigated a star-forming region known as G34.26+0.15. As a result, they discovered an explosive outflow in this complex. ...
An international team of scientists led by a Rutgers University–New Brunswick astrophysicist has discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to ...
Astronomy
Apr 28, 2025
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A celestial shadow known as the Circinus West molecular cloud creeps across this image captured from Chile with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy–fabricated Dark Energy Camera—one of the most powerful digital cameras ...
Astronomy
Apr 25, 2025
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This new image, released on April 4, 2025, showcases the dazzling young star cluster NGC 346. Although both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope have released images of NGC 346 previously, this image ...
Astronomy
Apr 14, 2025
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An international research team led by Dr. Zhang Suinan from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered the unique mechanisms governing star formation in the Central Molecular Zone ...
Astronomy
Apr 3, 2025
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47
Follow-up research on a 2023 image of the Sagittarius C stellar nursery in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, has revealed ejections from still-forming protostars and insights ...
Astronomy
Apr 2, 2025
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In the ALMAGAL project, an international research team will analyze observations of more than a thousand "star factories" to better understand the origin and formation of new stars. Most previous studies have focused on the ...
Astronomy
Mar 11, 2025
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