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Pre-main-sequence
A pre-main-sequence star (also known as a PMS star and PMS object) is a star in the stage when it has not yet reached the main sequence. Earlier in its life, the object is a protostar that grows by acquiring mass from its surrounding envelope of interstellar dust and gas. After the protostar blows away this envelope, it is optically visible, and appears on the stellar birthline in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. At this point, the star has acquired nearly all of its mass but has not yet started hydrogen burning (i.e. nuclear fusion of hydrogen). The star then contracts, its internal temperature rising until it begins hydrogen burning on the zero age main sequence. This period of contraction is the pre-main sequence stage. An observed PMS object can either be a T Tauri star, if it has fewer than 2 solar masses (), or else a Herbig Ae/Be star, if it has 2 to 8 . Yet more massive stars have no pre-main-sequence stage because they contract too quickly as protostars. By the time the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hayashi Track
The Hayashi track is a luminosity–temperature relationship obeyed by infant stars of less than in the pre-main-sequence phase (PMS phase) of stellar evolution. It is named after Japanese astrophysicist Chushiro Hayashi. On the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, which plots luminosity against temperature, the track is a nearly vertical curve. After a protostar ends its phase of rapid contraction and becomes a T Tauri star, it is extremely luminous. The star continues to contract, but much more slowly. While slowly contracting, the star follows the Hayashi track downwards, becoming several times less luminous but staying at roughly the same surface temperature, until either a radiative zone develops, at which point the star starts following the Henyey track, or nuclear fusion begins, marking its entry onto the main sequence. The shape and position of the Hayashi track on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram depends on the star's mass and chemical composition. For solar-mass stars, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protostar
A protostar is a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud. The protostellar phase is the earliest one in the process of stellar evolution. For a low-mass star (i.e. that of the Sun or lower), it lasts about 500,000 years. The phase begins when a molecular cloud fragment first collapses under the force of self-gravity and an opaque, pressure supported core forms inside the collapsing fragment. It ends when the infalling gas is depleted, leaving a pre-main-sequence star, which contracts to later become a main-sequence star at the onset of hydrogen fusion producing helium. History The modern picture of protostars, summarized above, was first suggested by Chushiro Hayashi in 1966. In the first models, the size of protostars was greatly overestimated. Subsequent numerical calculations clarified the issue, and showed that protostars are only modestly larger than main-sequence stars of the same mass. This basic theoretical result has been confirm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbig Ae/Be Star
A Herbig Ae/Be star (HAeBe) is a pre-main-sequence star – a young () star of spectral types A or B. These stars are still embedded in gas-dust envelopes and are sometimes accompanied by circumstellar disks. Hydrogen and calcium emission lines are observed in their spectra. They are 2-8 Solar mass () objects, still existing in the star formation (gravitational contraction) stage and approaching the main sequence (i.e. they are not burning hydrogen in their center). Description In the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, Herbig Ae/Be stars are located to the right of the main sequence. They are named after the American astronomer George Herbig, who first distinguished them from other stars in 1960. The original Herbig criteria were: * Spectral type earlier than F0 (in order to exclude T Tauri stars), * Balmer emission lines in the stellar spectrum (in order to be similar to T Tauri stars), * Projected location within the boundaries of a dark interstellar cloud (in order to select re ... [...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 * H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henyey Track
The Henyey track is a path taken by pre-main-sequence stars with masses greater than 0.5 solar masses in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram after the end of the Hayashi track. The astronomer Louis G. Henyey and his colleagues in the 1950s showed that the pre-main-sequence star can remain in radiative equilibrium throughout some period of its contraction to the main sequence. The Henyey track is characterized by a slow collapse in near hydrostatic equilibrium, approaching the main sequence almost horizontally in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (i.e. the luminosity remains almost constant). See also * Historical brightest stars * List of brightest stars * List of most luminous stars * List of nearest bright stars * List of Solar System objects in hydrostatic equilibrium * Stellar evolution Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 regi ... [...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 star-forming region. They are found near molecular clouds and identified by their optical variability and strong 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 (). Their surface temperatures are similar to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of light. The most prominent stars have been categorised into constellations and asterisms, and many of the brightest stars have proper names. Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations. The observable universe contains an estimated to stars. Only about 4,000 of these stars are visible to the naked eye, all within the Milky Way galaxy. A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material composed primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and trace amounts of heavier elements. Its total mass is the main factor determining its evolution and eventual fate. A star shines for most of its active life due t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Evolution
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the age of the universe. The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses. All stars are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust, often called nebulae or molecular clouds. Over the course of millions of years, these protostars settle down into a state of equilibrium, becoming what is known as a main-sequence star. Nuclear fusion powers a star for most of its existence. Initially the energy is generated by the fusion of hydrogen atoms at the core of the main-sequence star. Later, as the preponderance of atoms at the core becomes helium, stars like the Sun begin to fuse hydrogen along a spherical shell surrounding the core. This process causes the star to gradually grow in size, pass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Main Sequence
In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or dwarf stars. These are the most numerous true stars in the universe and include the Sun. After condensation and ignition of a star, it generates thermal energy in its dense core region through nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. During this stage of the star's lifetime, it is located on the main sequence at a position determined primarily by its mass but also based on its chemical composition and age. The cores of main-sequence stars are in hydrostatic equilibrium, where outward thermal pressure from the hot core is balanced by the inward pressure of gravitational collapse from the overlying layers. The strong dependence of the rate of energy ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
