The Process of Triggered Star Formation

This animation illustrates the process of triggered star formation. First, a massive star in its final death throes explodes or "goes supernova," shooting a shock wave through surrounding clouds of gas and dust. Next, the shock wave compresses the gas and dust, gravity kicks in, and finally, a new wave of stars is born. The whole progression, from the death of one star to the birth of others, takes millions of years to complete.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• supernova
• Triggered
• Star
• Formation

[TimmacTR]

what is this "dust" really formed of? is this dust actually millions of small stellar systems?

[sltlamina]

@IloveYOUviruses

The perfect gas equation doesn't really apply to... well, any gas in reality. You'll probably find that the 'gases' in a nebulae end up obeying the rule: PV/nRT > 1

And, in fact, the gas in a nebula isn't a regular gas at all. It's ionised gas; plasma. This would instantly invalidate the perfect gas law which assumes that gases are non-interacting point-particles. Ionised gases however are DEFINITELY going to interact with each other at a distance.

[IloveYOUviruses]

@IloveYOUviruses The equation: PV=nRT

increase T

decrease V

and P increases so high that it is impossible so form any star.

Do the math, use 100 times the volume of the sun and 1million K ;) BOOM!

[IloveYOUviruses]

@KJVWordofGod Not only that, the temperature required to achieve a thermonuclear reaction is so high (from millions to billions degrees K) that before you get to that point, the cloud would have dispersed again into the vacum of space according to the ideal gas law, which btw is testable unlike the dellusion of star formation.

[cptstubing]

@intelegentdproduct And the chances of their being an benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent creator that cares about us ever so much are better?

[cptstubing]

@KJVWordofGod You want to bring the word of god into this, you need to speak science and math, not religion. Gravity is indeed a weak force, but you saw something that takes millions of years condensed into 14 seconds. Don't forget time is very forgiving on small, weak, invisible phenomena.

[KJVWordofGod]

@Perspektyva ...tsk...tsk...Gravity is an extremely weak force and simply cannot account for the effect. The universe is electric...plasma. Nevertheless, no new stars have been formed since the beginning....despite cute little animations.

[rehzon]

Nice animation. Though I think that shock wave would only push those clouds

apart in a different direction. Considering gas expands (doesn't clump)

having spaced out atoms and little density at all.

[lukehi]

Would be awesome and useful for presentations if there was an animation showing the other possible triggering mechanisms, C&C, RDI.

[mayush99999]

great animation!