NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, SAMUEL CROWE (UVA)
A 50 light-year wide James Webb Space Telescope image near the core of the Milky Way Galaxy. In an area about 10 times the distance of the Sun from its nearest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, there are around 500,000 new stars.
The Milky Way galaxy is old, 13.6 billion years old or born 200 million years after the big bang, aka the big bang. However, the formation of stars and planets in it continues until now. Similar processes are believed to occur in other galaxies throughout the universe indicating the evolution of galaxies.
The James Webb Space Telescope recently captured the seeding of half a million stars near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. These shining stars are crowded in the Sagittrarius C (Sgr C) region and stretch as far as 50 light years or 10 times the distance of the Sun and its closest star, Proxima Centauri.
So, imagine that such a narrow area is filled with around 500,000 stars. Moreover, many of the stars in it are supergiant in size, having a mass 30 times the mass of the Sun.
In these massive stars, heavy elements are formed, helping astronomers understand the formation and evolution of the universe.
Sgr C is a very active star formation area. This region is about 300 light years from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy called Sagittarius A*. The Sgr C region is illuminated by ultraviolet light from the newly formed massive young stars.
Also read: When stars the size of the sun eat their planets
The area of this newborn, giant star cluster is what the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) calls an “extreme cosmic environment.”
ESO/M. GRAIN FAIR
Artist’s illustration of the HH 1177 system in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) dwarf galaxy, which is a satellite of the Milky Way Galaxy. The new star in this system has jets radiating outward and is surrounded by an accretion disk filled with gas and dust. The existence of this accretion disk is one of the characteristics of young and new stars.
In the James Webb telescope image, the orange part shows a protostar cluster or starburst, while the bluish green (cyan) part indicates an area with ionized hydrogen gas.
“The galactic center is the most extreme environment in the Milky Way Galaxy. “In that region, existing theories of star formation can be rigorously tested,” said astronomy professor at the University of Virginia, USA, Jonathan Tan, as quoted by Livescience, Thursday (30/11/2023).
Material disc
The formation of young stars also occurs in other galaxies. That is, there is no one special place in the universe. Various galactic evolution processes that occur in the Milky Way also occur in other galaxies in various corners of the universe.
One sign that indicates young stars is the formation of a disk of material that surrounds and “feeds” the young stars. This disk of material is also found in the formation of new planets.
So far, evidence of the existence of accretion disks of material has been found in stars in the Milky Way. However, the latest study published in the journal Nature, November 29 2023, shows the first direct evidence of a disk of material surrounding a young star outside the Milky Way.
The disk of young star material outside the Milky Way was found in the massive gas cloud system HH 1177 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, 163,000 light years from Earth.
The LMC and two other nearby galaxies are dwarf galaxies which are satellites of the Milky Way galaxy.
Also read: Orion Nebula, the story of the death and birth of a star
The existence of a disk of material surrounding young stars in the LMC was discovered by a team led by astronomer from Durham University, England, Anna McLeod.
“This disc of matter is very important in the formation of stars and planets in the Milky Way Galaxy. “For the first time, we see direct evidence of this in another galaxy,” McLeod told Space, November 29 2023.
NASA/ESA/A NOTE (STSCI/ESA)
Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy which is a satellite of the Milky Way Galaxy and is approximately 210,000 light years from Earth. This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy is one of the places that gives birth to many new stars.
Initially, the team discovered bursts of material or jets coming out of massive young stars that were forming using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.
The existence of the jet is a sign of the existence of an accretion disk of material around the star. Furthermore, with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope in Chile, researchers proved the existence of the accretion disk.
Accretion disks form when matter falls towards a baby star or other accretion object such as a neutron star or black hole. The material then builds up angular momentum and rotates around the star, forming a flat disk that rotates and feeds this material to the star.
This disk of material is very important in the formation of stars and planets in the Milky Way Galaxy. For the first time, we see direct evidence of this in another galaxy.
Gas in the accretion disk near the star moves faster than gas at the edge of the accretion disk. The movement of the material due to the gravitational force of the star makes the material in the accretion disk glow. In fact, the brightness of the accretion disk’s light outshines the combined light of the stars in this galaxy.
However, accretion disks that circle ordinary stars are more difficult to find. The reason is that young stars are generally still surrounded by clouds and gas where the stars were born.
However, in HH 1177 in the LMC, the young, newborn stars are not much shrouded in clouds of gas and dust. This means that the stars in HH 1177 escaped from the “cocoon” in which they were born so that astronomers can observe star formation and observe the beginnings of planet formation.
THAT
The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) dwarf galaxy is a place for the formation of young and hot stars. The LMC is the third closest dwarf galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy and is a satellite of the Milky Way Galaxy.
“Advances in astronomical observation technology allow humans to study the formation of stars and planets in other galaxies,” said McLeod.
The process of forming an accretion disk around a star was also experienced by our Solar System 4.5 billion years ago. From this disk of material, planets, satellites, asteroids, comets and other rocks in the Solar System were formed. This process also occurs in other planetary systems outside the Solar System.
Also read: The disk of the Milky Way Galaxy is not flat, but curved
After all, the universe continues to evolve. Many dead stars were discovered, but new and young stars did not stop forming. Everything develops and changes following its own path of destiny. Do not know until when.
2023-12-05 05:01:44
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