Parent star’s long ‘napping’ could trigger the formation of baby stars
March 10th, 2011 - 5:34 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 10 (ANI): It has long been suspected that the build up of material onto young stars is not continuous but happens in episodic events, resulting in short outbursts of energy from these stars.
However, this has been largely ignored in models of star formation.
Now, Cardiff University astrophysicists Dimitris Stamatellos and Anthony Whitworth, along with David Hubber from the University of Sheffield, have developed advanced computer models to gain a rare insight into the formation of stars.
They believe that a young star’s long ‘napping’ could trigger the formation of a second generation of smaller stars and planets orbiting around it.
While stars are young they are surrounded by discs of gas and dust, and grow by accreting material from these discs. The discs may break-up to give birth to smaller stars, planets and brown dwarfs.
“We know that young stars spend most of their early lives sleeping,” said Stamatellos.
“After they have their lunch - a large chunk of dust and gas from their discs - they take a nap that lasts for a few thousand years. During this nap their brightness is very low,” he said.
“As they sleep, their discs grow in mass, but they remain relatively cool, despite the presence of stars right at their centres. Eventually, these discs become unstable and fragment to form low-mass stars and substellar objects, like brown dwarfs and planets,” he added.
To date, research has suggested that the radiation from the parent star could heat and stabilize the disc, suppressing its breaking up.
However, the researchers discovered that there is ample time in between outbursts to allow the disc to break up and give birth to a new generation of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and planets.
The new theory provides an explanation for the formation and the properties of stars with masses below a fifth of that of our Sun, which are estimated to constitute more than 60 percent of all stars in our Galaxy.
“Our findings suggest that disc fragmentation is possible in nature,” said Stamatellos.
“It is important now to investigate whether this is the dominant mechanism for the formation of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs,” he added.
The research is published in the Astrophysical Journal. (ANI)
- Astronomers stumble upon failed dwarf 'stars' - Oct 12, 2011
- Massive stars are born the same way as their smaller counterparts - Jul 15, 2010
- Scientists ferret out planet-hunting targets with NASA telescope - Apr 08, 2011
- NASA's Swift satellite, Hubble Telescope probe asteroid collision debris - Apr 29, 2011
- Astronomers discover youngest and lowest mass dwarf stars - Apr 23, 2009
- Planets may assemble around stars more quickly than anyone thought possible - Dec 23, 2009
- How Earth survived its birth - Jan 08, 2010
- New space image reveals dynamic and violent process of star birth - Feb 12, 2010
- Scientists discover supernova shrapnel in meteorite - Sep 10, 2010
- NASA's Hubble finds spark of life in ancient galaxy - Nov 19, 2010
- First "super Earths" discovered around Sun-like stars - Dec 15, 2009
- NASA's Spitzer telescope observes youngest brown dwarf ever observed - Nov 24, 2009
- Why massive stellar explosions occur in the tiniest of galaxies? - Apr 22, 2011
- Astronomers discover 'Rosetta Stone' for T-Dwarf stars - Nov 23, 2010
- Student's space-dust counter breaks distance record, heads for Pluto - Oct 12, 2010
Tags: advanced computer, ample time, astrophysicists, baby stars, brown dwarfs, cardiff university, computer models, dimitris, episodic events, formation of stars, galax, hubber, low mass, mass stars, parent star, rare insight, star formation, stars and planets, university of sheffield, young stars