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Young Stellar Object
Young stellar object (YSO) denotes a star in its early stage of evolution. This class consists of two groups of objects: protostars and pre-main-sequence stars. Classification by spectral energy distribution A star forms by accumulation of material that falls in to a protostar from a circumstellar disk or envelope. Material in the disk is cooler than the surface of the protostar, so it radiates at longer wavelengths of light producing excess infrared emission. As material in the disk is depleted, the infrared excess decreases. Thus, YSOs are usually classified into evolutionary stages based on the slope of their spectral energy distribution in the mid-infrared, using a scheme introduced by Lada (1987). He proposed three classes (I, II and III), based on the values of intervals of spectral index \alpha \,: \alpha=\frac. Here \lambda \, is wavelength, and F_\lambda is flux density. The \alpha \, is calculated in the wavelength interval of 2.2–20 m ( near- and mid-infrared r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex
The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is a complex of interstellar clouds with different nebulae, particularly a dark nebula which is centered 1° south of the star ρ Ophiuchi, which it among others extends to, of the constellation Ophiuchus. At an estimated distance of about , or 460 light years, it is one of the closest Star formation, star-forming regions to the Solar System. Cloud complex This cloud covers an angular area of on the celestial sphere. It consists of two major regions of dense gas and dust. The first contains a star-forming cloud (L1688) and two filaments (L1709 and L1755), while the second has a star-forming region (L1689) and a filament (L1712–L1729). These filaments extend up to 10–17.5 parsecs in length and can be as narrow as 0.24 parsecs in width. The large extensions of the complex are also called ''Dark River'' clouds (or ''Rho Ophiuchi Streamers'') and are identified as Barnard Catalogue, Barnard 44 and 45. Some of the structures within the complex appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
T Tauri Star
T Tauri stars (TTS) are a class of variable stars that are less than about ten million years old. This class is named after the prototype, T Tauri, a young star in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, Taurus star-forming region. They are found near molecular clouds and identified by their optical variable star, variability and strong chromosphere, chromospheric lines. T Tauri stars are pre-main-sequence stars in the process of contracting to the main sequence along the Hayashi track, a luminosity–temperature relationship obeyed by infant stars of less than 3 solar masses () in the pre-main-sequence phase of stellar evolution. It ends when a star of or larger develops a radiative zone, or when a smaller star commences nuclear fusion on the main sequence. History While T Tauri itself was discovered in 1852, the T Tauri class of stars were initially defined by Alfred Harrison Joy in 1945. Characteristics T Tauri stars comprise the youngest visible F, G, K and M spectral type stars ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bok Globule
In astronomy, Bok globules are isolated and relatively small dark nebulae containing dense cosmic dust and gas from which star formation may take place. Bok globules are found within H II regions, and typically have a mass of about two to 50 solar masses contained within a region about a light year or so across (about ). They contain molecular hydrogen (H2), carbon oxides and helium, and around 1% (by mass) silicate dust. Bok globules most commonly result in the formation of double- or multiple-star systems. History Bok globules were first observed by astronomer Bart Bok in the 1940s. In an article published in 1947, he and Edith F. Reilly hypothesized that these clouds were "similar to insect's cocoons" that were undergoing gravitational collapse to form new stars, from which stars and star clusters were born. This hypothesis was difficult to verify due to the observational difficulties of establishing what was happening inside a dense dark cloud that obscured all visible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Dwarf
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in their cores, but massive enough to emit some light and heat from the deuterium fusion, fusion of deuterium (deuterium, 2H). The most massive ones (> ) can lithium burning, fuse lithium (lithium-7, 7Li). Astronomers classify self-luminous objects by Stellar classification#Spectral types, spectral type, a distinction intimately tied to the surface temperature, and brown dwarfs occupy types M (2100–3500 Kelvin, K), L (1300–2100 Kelvin, K), T (600–1300 Kelvin, K), and Y ( 80 ''M''J), which have spectral classes L2 to L6. Spectral class T As GD 165B is the prototype of the L dwarfs, Gliese 229B is the prototype of a second ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protoplanetary Disk
A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may not be considered an accretion disk; while the two are similar, an accretion disk is hotter and spins much faster; it is also found on black holes, not stars. This process should not be confused with the accretion process thought to build up the planets themselves. Externally illuminated photo-evaporating protoplanetary disks are called proplyds. Formation Protostars form from molecular clouds consisting primarily of molecular hydrogen. When a portion of a molecular cloud reaches a critical size, mass, or density, it begins to collapse under its own gravity. As this collapsing cloud, called a solar nebula, becomes denser, random gas motions originally present in the cloud average out in favor of the direction of the nebula's net angular momentum. Conservation of angular momentum causes the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbig–Haro Object
Herbig–Haro (HH) objects are bright patches of nebula, nebulosity associated with newborn stars. They are formed when narrow jets of partially plasma (physics), ionised gas ejected by stars collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at several hundred kilometers per second. Herbig–Haro objects are commonly found in Star formation#Stellar nurseries, star-forming regions, and several are often seen around a single star, aligned with its axis of rotation, rotational axis. Most of them lie within about one parsec (3.26 light-years) of the source, although some have been observed several parsecs away. HH objects are transient phenomena that last around a few tens of thousands of years. They can change visibly over timescales of a few years as they move rapidly away from their parent star into the gas clouds of interstellar space (the interstellar medium or ISM). Hubble Space Telescope observations have revealed the complex evolution of HH objects over the period of a few years, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astrophysical Maser
An astrophysical maser is a naturally occurring source of Stimulated emission, stimulated spectral line emission, typically in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This emission may arise in molecular clouds, comets, planetary atmospheres, stellar atmospheres, or various other conditions in interstellar space. Background Discrete transition energy Like a laser, the emission from a maser is Stimulated emission, stimulated (or ''seeded'') and monochromatic, having the frequency Max Planck, corresponding to the energy difference between two Quantum mechanics, quantum-mechanical energy levels of the species in the gain medium which have been Laser pumping, pumped into a Statistical mechanics, non-thermal Population inversion, population distribution. However, naturally occurring masers lack the resonance, resonant Cavity resonator, cavity engineered for terrestrial laboratory masers. The emission from an astrophysical maser is due to a single pass through the gain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disk Wind
In astronomy, a disk wind is a particle outflow observed around Accretion disk, accretion disks, mainly near Protoplanetary disk, protoplanetary disks and Active galactic nucleus, active galactic nulei (AGN). The disk wind is made up of a gaseous and a dusty component. Especially in edge-on protoplanetary disks this disk wind can be directly imaged. Young stellar objects The disk wind often appears as a nested structure, with high-velocity narrow collimated Astrophysical jet, jets surrounded by a slower and wider disk wind. This wider disk wind is often detected in molecular emission lines. The central star or protostar or the accretion process is emitting high-energy photons, from far-ultraviolet to x-rays. This ionizes and heats the gas and dust in the disk. This material is first ejected due to magnetorotational instability (MRI). Material is flung out by magneto-Centrifugal force, centrifugal processes and this model describes the wind as magnetohydrodynamic winds (MHD winds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bipolar Outflow
A bipolar outflow comprises two continuous flows of gas from the poles of a star. Bipolar outflows may be associated with protostars (young, forming stars), or with evolved post-AGB stars (often in the form of bipolar nebulae). Protostars In the case of a young star, the bipolar outflow is driven by a dense, collimated jet. These astrophysical jets are narrower than the outflow and very difficult to observe directly. However, supersonic shock fronts along the jet heat the gas in and around the jet to thousands of degrees. These pockets of hot gas radiate at infrared wavelengths and thus can be detected with telescopes like the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). They often appear as discrete knots or arcs along the beam of the jet. They are usually called molecular bow shocks, since the knots are usually curved like the bow wave at the front of a ship. Occurrence Typically, molecular bow shocks are observed in ro-vibrational emission from hot molecular hydro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astrophysical Jet
An astrophysical jet is an astronomical phenomenon where outflows of ionised matter are emitted as extended beams along the axis of rotation. When this greatly accelerated matter in the beam approaches the speed of light, astrophysical jets become relativistic jets as they show effects from special relativity. The formation and powering of astrophysical jets are highly complex phenomena that are associated with many types of high-energy astronomical sources. They likely arise from dynamic interactions within accretion disks, whose active processes are commonly connected with compact central objects such as black holes, neutron stars or pulsars. One explanation is that tangled magnetic fields are organised to aim two diametrically opposing beams away from the central source by angles only several degrees wide Jets may also be influenced by a general relativity effect known as frame-dragging. Most of the largest and most active jets are created by supermassive black holes (SM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Birthline
The stellar birthline is a predicted line on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram that relates the effective temperature and luminosity of pre-main-sequence stars at the start of their contraction. Prior to this point, the objects are accreting protostars, and are so deeply embedded in the cloud of dust and gas from which they are forming that they radiate only in far infrared and millimeter wavelengths. Once stellar winds disperse this cloud, the star becomes visible as a pre-main-sequence object. The set of locations on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram where these newly visible stars reside is called the ''birthline'', and is found above the main sequence. The location of the stellar birthline depends in detail on the accretion rate onto the star and geometry of this accretion, i.e. whether or not it is occurring through an accretion disk. This means that the birthline is not an infinitely thin curve, but has a finite thickness in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. See also * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
