Fate of cometsFate of comets

•This “Sun-grazing” comet was observed by the SOHO spacecraft a few hours before it passed just 50,000 km above the Sun's surface.

•The comet did not survive its passage, due to the intense solar heating and tidal forces.

Sun

•Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter in 1994

•Was previously tidally disrupted into a string of fragments

•Each fragment hit Jupiter with the energy of a 10 megaton nuclear bomb explosion

Astronomy picture of the day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Chapter 4: Formation of starsChapter 4: Formation of stars

Insterstellar dust and gasInsterstellar dust and gas• Viewing a galaxy edge-on, you

see a dark lane where starlight is being absorbed by dust.

An all-sky map of neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way. The plane of the galaxy is highly obscured by absorbing gas and dust.

Looking toward the Galactic centre, in visible light.

The interstellar mediumThe interstellar medium

• Stars are born from this gas and dust, collectively known as the interstellar medium.

• During their lifetime, stars may return some material to the ISM through surface winds or explosive events

• In supernova explosions, most of the star is dispersed throughout the ISM.

Composition of the ISMComposition of the ISM

•Hydrogen is by far the most common element in the ISM

Molecular (H2) Neutral (HI) Ionized (HII)

• Also contains helium and other elements. The solid component is in the form of dust.

Properties of interstellar dustProperties of interstellar dust

•Makes up ~10% of the ISM by mass

•Composition: graphite, SiC, silicates, H2, H2O

•Dust grains form by condensing out of a cooling cloud of interstellar gas.

•Facilitate many chemical reactions They provide the only mechanism known for forming H2

•Radiate efficiently in the infrared, and therefore provide an effective means of cooling

Types of molecular cloudsTypes of molecular cloudsTranslucent cloudsT=15-50 Kn~5x108-5x109 m-3

M~3-100 MSun

R~ 1-10 pc

Giant molecular cloudsT~20 Kn~1x108-3x108 m-3

M~106 MSun

R~50 pc

Giant molecular cloud cores

T~100-200 Kn~1x1013-3x1015 m-3

M~10 – 1000 MSun

R<1 pc

The Jeans massThe Jeans mass

A simple energetic argument can give a rough approximation for the conditions required for a molecular cloud to collapse and form stars.

The virial theorem relates (time-averaged) kinetic to potential energy, for a stable, gravitationally bound system: 02 UK

This indicates a stability criterion: if the kinetic energy is too low, the cloud will collapse under the force of gravity

2/12/1

2/1

3

32/1

33

3

4

15

4

375

T

Gm

kR

T

mG

kM

HJ

HJ

It can be shown that a uniform-density cloud will collapse if the mass exceeds the Jeans mass (or, equivalently, if the radius exceeds the Jeans length)

Example: Diffuse HI cloudsExample: Diffuse HI clouds

What is the Jeans mass for a typical diffuse cloud?

38105

50

100

mn

KT

MM Sun

Example: molecular cloud coresExample: molecular cloud cores

Typical conditions in molecular cloud cores:

314105

150

1000/10

mn

KT

MM Sun

The sites of star formationThe sites of star formation

•Could occur in giant molecular clouds with masses up to ~3x106Msun, in core regions where T≤30K

Additional support provided by turbulence, magnetic fields, rotation

need a trigger to start formation of small, dense cores where gravity can dominate

possible triggers: supernova shock wave; stellar winds, spiral arm density waves

BreakBreak

Star formationStar formation

A slowly-rotating, Jeans-unstable core of a molecular cloud can start to collapse. It will form a disk – why?

Evolution of a solar mass protostarEvolution of a solar mass protostar

1. Initially the clump is able to radiate all its gravitational energy efficiently, and collapses quickly.

2. As the core density increases the energy goes into heating the cloud. The core reaches approximate hydrostatic equilibrium, with a radius of ~5 AU. This is the protostar.

Evolution of a solar mass protostarEvolution of a solar mass protostar

3. Above the protostar, the rest of the cloud is still in free-fall. Rotation of the cloud means this collapsing material forms a disk.

4. Eventually T becomes high enough that molecular hydrogen dissociates; this absorbs some of the energy supporting the protostar, so the core begins to collapse further, until it becomes ~30% larger than the present Solar radius (but still much less massive).

5. The protostar continues to accrete material from the infalling cloud.

Evolution of a solar mass protostarEvolution of a solar mass protostar

• When the star begins nuclear fusion it releases a large amount of energy in a bipolar jet, which: Prevents further collapse of material? Disperses gas disk? Gets rid of angular momentum?

Here we can actually see the stellar disk, illuminated by the central, obscured, star

• As dust agglomerates into planetesimals, or is ejected by the jet, the central star becomes visible.

Herbig-Haro objectsHerbig-Haro objects

• Jets associated with star formation interact with the surrounding ISM, exciting the gas and forming bright, emission line objects. These are HH objects.

Stellar disksStellar disks

Young main sequence stars often still have disks, even after the molecular cloud has been dispersed.

Infrared-emitting dust disk around -Pic. The central star has been subtracted.

The dust disk around Vega. At least one large planet is known to exist within this disk.