Starship Asterisk*

HEAPOW: Life and Death Interacting (2020 Oct 19)

High-mass stars are usually born in groups buried within dense clouds of gas and dust. Even if these stars form at the same time, they don't all age at the same rate. Lower mass stars age at a leisurely pace, while higher mass stars speed though the complex stages of thermonuclear processing deep within their interiors until they reach the final iron catastrophe and explode as a supernova. These superpowerful supernovae have a tremendous impact on the star-forming cloud, halting star formation in some regions, sparking it in others. One of the best examples of this is the W44 supernova remnant in the constellation of Aquila (the Eagle). The image above shows energetic X-ray emission seen by the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory (in blue) produced about 20,000 years ago by a supernova explosion of some massive star within a star-forming cloud. It also shows lower-energy infrared emisson produced by hot dust, and gas ionized by the intense ltraviolet radiation from young massive stars in the cloud, as seen by the Herschel Space Observatory. Circles highlight W44, and three other ionizded regions to the right of W44, along with emission from the Galactic Plane of the Milky Way in the lower left. Also highlighted is an object marked, PSR B1853+01 which is a rapidly spinning magnetized pulsar, the tiny, leftover compressed core of the star, which produces high energy X-ray radiation.

KayBur wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 9:06 am So, in this gray area, is the process of the formation of a new star taking place? Or am I not getting it right? I just did not study this process, but this information interested me and I want to understand what is happening in this cloud. Sorry for the stupid questions, but I'm a beginner in astronomy, I got interested quite recently when I was helping a child do his homework.

KayBur wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 7:04 am I beg your pardon, I was sealed. I was referring to the area of blue. The question is whether there will be a new celestial body in the place of the dying star. Or will it remain a cloud? This question is very interesting. As a beginner in astronomy, I ask stupid questions, but I want to get explanations in simpler expressions, because in scientific articles not everything is fully understood. Lack of knowledge.

These superpowerful supernovae have a tremendous impact on the star-forming cloud, halting star formation in some regions, sparking it in others.

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:09 am

KayBur wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 7:04 am I beg your pardon, I was sealed. I was referring to the area of blue. The question is whether there will be a new celestial body in the place of the dying star. Or will it remain a cloud? This question is very interesting. As a beginner in astronomy, I ask stupid questions, but I want to get explanations in simpler expressions, because in scientific articles not everything is fully understood. Lack of knowledge.

Many supernovas leave behind stellar remnants, which could be a neutron star or a black hole surrounded by an expanding cloud from the explosion. The blast can sweep an area clear of the dust and gas required for new star formation. As the blast zone grows however it also sort of piles material up, and when the dust and gas in a region are compressed to a high enough density in can then begin to collapse into new stars. That's what this statement in the above article means:

These superpowerful supernovae have a tremendous impact on the star-forming cloud, halting star formation in some regions, sparking it in others.