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Questions tagged [protostar]

Questions about the early phases of the star formation process. A protostar is a large mass of gas that results of the contraction of a molecular cloud.

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What do you call a protostar with more than 10 solar masses?

PMS Stars with less than 3 solar masses are T Tauri stars, and PMS stars between 3 and 10 solar masses are herbig ae/be stars, so what do you call a star with more than 10 solar masses? Is there ...
Astrovis's user avatar
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Hayashi Track vs Red Giant branch

Are the red Giant branch and the Hayashi track the same thing? After doing some research, I found some similarities between the two, such as both aree fully convective. However, the T Tauri phase does ...
Astrovis's user avatar
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6 votes
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Does a more massive main proto-body result in more massive satellites? More satellites?

Suppose that we have a forming protostar and an accompanying protoplanetary disk. Does the mass of the protostar have any direct relation to the masses of resulting planets or amount of resulting ...
Max0815's user avatar
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6 votes
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Do protostars take longer to achieve H fusion due to gravitational sinking of heavy elements?

After the death of the universe’s first generation of stars, the clouds from which new stars form will include elements heavier than hydrogen. In the formation of a protostar from such a cloud, do ...
MarkVonTexas's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
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Are Brown and Sub-Brown Dwarfs secretly more common than stars?

I recently heard that Red Dwarfs are the most common type of star, and low-mass Red Dwarfs are the most common type of Red Dwarf. This seems to imply a generic trend that the lower the mass, the more ...
cowlinator's user avatar
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How is V1057 Cygni supposed to go from K type dwarf to F type giant?

FU Orionis variables are protostars that go through massive outbursts that drastically change the star's spectral type and magnitude. With the star V1057 Cygni, this star was known to go from a K type ...
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How common is it for large objects (few kilometers wide) in a young protoplanetary disk or debris disk to collide with one another?

If enough time has passed for gravitational forces to allow the formation of planetesimals(proto-planets) in orbit around the proto-star, how likely is it that two of them would collide with one ...
Ammanuel's user avatar
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Why does a hot cloud need more mass to collapse?

I was wondering why does a hot cloud need more mass to collapse than a cold cloud to form a protostar? Is it because there's a higher thermal pressure inside the hotter cloud than it is in a colder ...
space nerd's user avatar
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Supernova impact on Protostar formation

What would be the impact on the formation of a new star (protostar) when a nearby star (within 10 LY) goes supernova? Will the force of the explosion (once it arrives in the Molecular Cloud where the ...
PaulS's user avatar
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2 votes
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Freefall timescale for a Jeans-unstable hydrogen cloud of mass M

I'm working on a project (personal, not academic) that involves calculating the collapse timescales for protostars which will end up becoming stars of varying given masses. I'm treating the pre-main ...
realityChemist's user avatar
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How should I find a telescope for research time?

I'm an undergrad in physics and astronomy deciding to look into applying for time on a research telescope, and I'm not sure how to proceed with locating/finding telescopes that I can apply for time on....
Pulchritude's user avatar
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Why is the core of a gas giant supported by electron degeneracy pressure instead of nuclear fusion?

After a Sun-sized protostar forms, its core will become denser over time due to radiation. The core eventually gets dense and hot enough for hydrogen fusion to take place. In the late phases of the ...
Sir Cumference's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
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What decides the direction in which the accretion disk spins?

Planets lie on the same plane because of the accretion disk formed during the Protostar stage, as I read in this question. I also read about the collision of particles in the gas cloud causing the ...
alphadog's user avatar
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4 votes
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Is the conversion from proto-star to main sequence an event or a process?

When a proto-star becomes a main sequence star, is that something that happens in an instant when a certain threshold is met, or is it a process that takes a few thousand/million years?
Scottie's user avatar
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3 votes
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How do stars or galaxies get their spin?

It is my understanding that when a star, a planetary disk, or a galaxy forms, the rotational momentum of the whole system is conserved. Due to the smaller size of the resulting object, it will spin ...
HugoRune's user avatar
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1 answer
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Accretion of in-falling material for a young main sequence star

I'm reading material that is seemingly contradictory. Some sources indicate that the evolution of a protostar to a main sequence star is characterised by a stellar wind that precludes the accretion ...
Abhi.S's user avatar
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14 votes
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Is there enough hydrogen left after a star dies so another star will have enough to light up?

A star consumes quite a lot of hydrogen in its life, and is pretty much "vacuuming" everything in its vicinity. After it dies (eventually by supernova which will spread all its composition over light ...
Andrei's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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How can pre-main sequence stars radiate more energy than main-sequence stars?

How can a pre-main sequence star radiate more energy by gravitational contraction than a main-sequence star can by hydrogen fusion?
analogyschema's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
318 views

Source of T Tauri wind?

What particularly causes the T Tauri star to eject the strong bipolar wind which clears the gases around the star?
Shivam's user avatar
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17 votes
1 answer
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Timescale of ignition of a protostar?

What is the timescale of start of nuclear fusion as T Tauri type star transforms into a Main Sequence star? Wikipedia article on T Tauri type stars mentions: Their central temperatures are too low ...
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