Newborn stars discovered in dark cosmic cloud
Thursday, July 8, 2010 - 03:00
in Astronomy & Space
A wave of massive star formation appears poised to begin within a mysterious, dark cloud in the Milky Way. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed a secluded birthplace for stars within a wispy, dark cloud named named M17 SWex. The dark cloud is part of the larger, parent nebula known as M17, a vast region of our galaxy with a bright, central star cluster. 'We believe we've managed to observe this dark cloud in a very early phase of star formation before its most massive stars have ignited,' said Penn State astronomer Matthew Povich, a postdoctoral fellow and the lead author of a study published recently in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The new research could shed light on the question of how and when massive stars form...