by iamlucky13 » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:04 am
orin stepanek wrote:I'LL be delighted if one gets caught starting to twinkle.
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
I hope somebody can answer if the probability of catching one firing up is forthcoming.
Orin
That'd be pretty sweet, but I don't suppose it's a lightswitch sort of affect.
I'd tend to expect that as the mass increases, the body slowly heats up in the infrared due to friction from the accretion of matter. As it gains enough mass for fusion to begin, it warms up faster, but as I understand this should first occur near the core, so we might still only see this happen in infrared, like a brown dwarf. As the density increases, so does the fusion rate, and the star gradually begins to shine in higher frequencies, gradually brightening in the visible spectrum, probably over thousands if not millions of years.
Actually, reading the wikipedia article on star formation, it seems that's just about what happens. No light switch:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution
As far as dust blowing away, I'm not sure how that works. I suppose it also gradually brightens as the stars output increases and the dust thins, so for a time we get a pretty reflection nebula.
[quote="orin stepanek"]I'LL be delighted if one gets caught starting to twinkle. :wink: I hope somebody can answer if the probability of catching one firing up is forthcoming. :P
Orin[/quote]
That'd be pretty sweet, but I don't suppose it's a lightswitch sort of affect.
I'd tend to expect that as the mass increases, the body slowly heats up in the infrared due to friction from the accretion of matter. As it gains enough mass for fusion to begin, it warms up faster, but as I understand this should first occur near the core, so we might still only see this happen in infrared, like a brown dwarf. As the density increases, so does the fusion rate, and the star gradually begins to shine in higher frequencies, gradually brightening in the visible spectrum, probably over thousands if not millions of years.
Actually, reading the wikipedia article on star formation, it seems that's just about what happens. No light switch:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution
As far as dust blowing away, I'm not sure how that works. I suppose it also gradually brightens as the stars output increases and the dust thins, so for a time we get a pretty reflection nebula.