What is a Stellar Nursery?
A “stellar nursery” is romantic way of referring to a molecular cloud in the process of forming new stars. A molecular cloud is a region of space dense enough with hydrogen atoms that molecules, most commonly H2, or diatomic hydrogen, can form. Molecular clouds may be giant, with 1000 to 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, or smaller, less than a few hundred times the mass of the Sun. These are called giant molecular clouds and small molecular clouds respectively. As far as we know, star formation occurs exclusively within these molecular clouds, hence the moniker “stellar nursery.” For a molecular cloud to be a stellar nursery, several conditions must be meant. First, the molecular cloud must have enough pockets of sufficient density (“molecular cores”) to provide the raw material to produce stars. Second, the molecular cloud must be subject to agitating forces, such as nearby large stars or supernovae. When a portion of a molecular cloud is lit and ionized by the radiation of a nearby
A “stellar nursery†is romantic way of referring to a molecular cloud in the process of forming new stars. A molecular cloud is a region of space dense enough with hydrogen atoms that molecules, most commonly H2, or diatomic hydrogen, can form. Molecular clouds may be giant, with 1000 to 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, or smaller, less than a few hundred times the mass of the Sun. These are called giant molecular clouds and small molecular clouds respectively. As far as we know, star formation occurs exclusively within these molecular clouds, hence the moniker “stellar nursery.†For a molecular cloud to be a stellar nursery, several conditions must be meant. First, the molecular cloud must have enough pockets of sufficient density (“molecular cores†) to provide the raw material to produce stars. Second, the molecular cloud must be subject to agitating forces, such as nearby large stars or supernovae. When a portion of a molecular cloud is lit and ionized by the radiation o
