Many knowledge of the cosmos is based on theories that over time can be verified experimentally or in the process of observation. Recently, researchers were lucky enough to track the birth of a star pair for the first time.
Star was born!
Star life cycle
To begin with, fixing a stellar birth is incredible luck. In space, the processes span hundreds of thousands, millions and billions of years; therefore, only a fragmentary moment of events can be caught in one human life.
Stars are an important part of the universe, the death of which (especially massive) fills outer space with a new set of elements. Therefore, scientists need to know how they are born and die. The first is more complicated, because we are repelled by the history of the solar system.
It is believed that everything starts with a large-scale molecular cloud. This is a stellar maternity hospital with a high density of molecules, and dimensions are capable of extending 300 light years wide. Such a cluster performs rotation around the galactic center until its integrity is broken. There are two options: the explosion of a nearby supernova or a collision with another similar molecular cloud. The event causes the cloud to shrink, creating a central star, planets, etc. This is the standard scenario of stellar evolution. However, the problem is that we are talking about the appearance of a single star. But in the universe they are most often born in pairs (especially massive specimens). Then how does the second appear? They decided to answer this thanks to a new observation.
New Star System
The star system IRAS07299-1651 lives at a distance of 5500 light years. It recorded the birth of two massive stars, exceeding the solar mass by 18 times. The primary star seems formed, and its neighbor passes through this process. Objects are still inside the molecular cloud, receiving all the necessary material from it.
The process itself is difficult to study, because the dense accumulation of dust and gas closes the entire view. Previously, two scenarios were advanced of how two massive stars can appear at once:
- the cloud collapses and two stars appear at the center of the spiral disk.
- The stars approach in a close star cluster, establish a gravitational connection and begin to rotate in a pair.
The IRAS07299-1651 system was studied using the ALMA telescopic array. It was surprising that already at the early stage of the collapse two stars appeared at once. A distance of 180 a is established between them. e., and for mutual rotation spend 600 years. The study provided two important findings:
- the formation of two objects (separation) is carried out at the starting stage.
- stars arise from one cradle (a disk in a collapsing cloud).
First, a primary star appears, and then fragmentation creates a second star, which is fed by the remaining material in the cloud. These conclusions so far relate only to this system. To describe the overall picture, you need to increase the sample (fix and study more moments of the birth of star pairs).
Postscript
The researchers are aiming at a comprehensive study of massive pairs, because it is these large stars that, after their death, throw into space heavy elements that have become material for the birth of our planet. In fact, all these elements make up your body, so there are traces of dead stars in you.
