Question about star formation
By jwfarrimond
@jwfarrimond (4473)
January 16, 2008 5:13am CST
OK this is a question for any professional astronomers out there. I know that stars form by condensing out of clouds of dust and gas and that this process can be observed to be taking place in say the Orion nebula. What I'm interested in is what determines how massive a star gets? Is it the density of the formation nebula or what? I'm interested to know what are the current theories on this are.
2 responses
@mattithyahu (389)
• United States
7 Apr 08
It completely depends on the nebula in which it is formed. If there is material there, it will condense.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
7 Apr 08
Thanks, that makes sense. The denser the nebula the bigger the stars that can form..
@underdogtoo (9579)
• Philippines
4 Jun 08
I am no professional astronomer, not even an amateur one but I will venture a guess. The density of a star would depend on the amount of material available to condense. The greater the resulting density the greater the ability to attract other material and so on and so forth.
