Stellar eggs near galactic center hatching into baby stars

Date:
March 29, 2021
Source:
National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Summary:
Astronomers found a number of stellar eggs containing baby
stars around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama
Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies
had suggested that the environment there is too harsh to form
stars. These findings indicate that star formation is more resilient
than researchers thought.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Astronomers found a number of stellar eggs containing baby
stars around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested
that the environment there is too harsh to form stars. These findings
indicate that star formation is more resilient than researchers thought.


========================================================================== Stars form in stellar eggs, cosmic clouds of gas and dust which
collapse due to gravity. If something interferes with the gravity driven contraction, star formation will be suppressed. There are many potential sources of interference near the Galactic Center. Strong turbulence can
stir up the clouds and prevent them from contracting, or strong magnetic
fields can support the gas against self-gravitational collapse. Previous observations indicated that star formation near the Galactic Center is
much less efficient.

To investigate the mysteries of the suppressed star formation, a team
led by Xing Lu, an astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatory
of Japan, used ALMA to observe regions near the Galactic Center which
contain ample gas, but no known star formation. Surprisingly, the team discovered more than 800 dense cores of gas and dust.

"The discovery leads to the question of whether they are actually 'stellar eggs' or not." explains Lu. To answer this question, the team again used
ALMA to search for energetic gas outflows which are indicative of stars
forming in stellar eggs. Thanks to ALMA's high sensitivity and high
spatial resolution, they detected 43 small and faint outflows in the
clouds. Lu comments, "our observations prove that even in the strongly disturbed areas around the Galactic Center, baby stars still form."
The research team is now analyzing ALMA's higher resolution observation
data to better understand the processes driving the gas outflows and
star formation near the Galactic Center.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
National_Institutes_of_Natural_Sciences. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Xing Lu, Shanghuo Li, Adam Ginsburg, Steven N. Longmore,
J. M. Diederik
Kruijssen, Daniel L. Walker, Siyi Feng, Qizhou Zhang, Cara
Battersby, Thushara Pillai, Elisabeth A. C. Mills, Jens Kauffmann,
Yu Cheng, Shu- ichiro Inutsuka. ALMA Observations of Massive
Clouds in the Central Molecular Zone: Ubiquitous Protostellar
Outflows. The Astrophysical Journal, 2021; 909 (2): 177 DOI:
10.3847/1538-4357/abde3c ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210329094842.htm

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