molecular clouds Archives

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 by Brian Koberlein

The First Supernovae Flooded the Early Universe With Water

This artist’s impression shows CR7 a very distant galaxy discovered using ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Water is the essence of life. Every living thing on Earth contains water within it. The Earth is rich with life because it is rich with water. This fundamental connection between water and life is partly due to water’s extraordinary properties, but part of it is due to the fact that water is one of the most abundant molecules in the Universe. Made from one part oxygen and two parts hydrogen, its structure is simple and strong. The hydrogen comes from the primordial fire of the Big Bang and is by far the most common element. Oxygen is created in the cores of large stars, along with carbon and nitrogen, as part of the CNO fusion cycle.

September 13, 2024September 13, 2024 by Evan Gough

The Outer Reaches of the Milky Way are Full of Stars, and the JWST is Observing Them

This JWST image shows a region of rapid star formation in the Extreme Outer Galaxy. It's part of what's called Digel Cloud 2, one of two clouds that each hold multiple regions of rapid star formation. This area is called Digel Cloud 2S and contains a luminous main cluster full of bright young stars. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Ressler (NASA-JPL)

The Milky Way’s outer reaches are coming into view thanks to the JWST. Astronomers pointed the powerful space telescope to a region over 58,000 light-years away called the Extreme Outer Galaxy (EOG). They found star clusters exhibiting extremely high rates of star formation.

January 9, 2024January 9, 2024 by Scott Alan Johnston

Young Stars in the Outskirts of Galaxies Finally Have an Explanation

Star formation is well understood when it happens in the populous centers of galaxies. From our vantage point on Earth, within the Milky Way, we see it happening all around us. But when newborn stars are birthed in the empty outskirts of galactic space, it requires a new kind of explanation. At the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Association yesterday, astronomers announced that they have observed, for the first time, the unique molecular clouds that give rise to star formation near the remote edges of galaxies.

November 30, 2023November 30, 2023 by Evan Gough

Could Life Exist in Molecular Clouds?

This image from the APEX telescope, of part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, shows a sinuous filament of cosmic dust more than ten light-years long. Could life exist in molecular clouds like this one? Credit: ESO/APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO)/A. Hacar et al./Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin.

Our search for life beyond Earth is still in its infancy. We’re focused on Mars and, to a lesser extent, ocean moons like Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus. Should we extend our search to cover more unlikely places like molecular clouds?

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023 by Evan Gough

Speedrunning Star Formation in the Cygnus X Region

Cygnus X is a massive star formation region about 4600 light-years away. New research shows star formation occurring very rapidly. Image Credit: By NASA - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/pia15253.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19475200

Stars are born in molecular clouds, massive clouds of hydrogen that can contain millions of stellar masses of material. But how do molecular clouds form? There are different theories and models of that process, but the cloud formation is difficult to observe.

A new study is making some headway, and showing how the process occurs more rapidly than thought.

February 16, 2022February 16, 2022 by Evan Gough

One of Life’s Building Blocks can Form in Space

A new kind of chemical reaction can explain how peptides can form on the icy layers of cosmic dust grains. Those peptides could have been transported to the early Earth by meteorites, asteroids or comets. Image Credit: © S. Krasnokutski / MPIA Graphics Department

Peptides are one of the smallest biomolecules and are one of life’s critical building blocks. New research shows that they could form on the surfaces of icy grains in space. This discovery lends credence to the idea that meteoroids, asteroids, or comets could have given life on Earth a kick start by crashing into the planet and delivering biological building blocks.

September 25, 2021September 25, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Astronomers Find a Giant Cavity in Space, Hollowed out by an Ancient Supernova

A cavity of empty space was likely caused by a supernova. Credit: Alyssa Goodman/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

Star formation is a topic astronomers are still trying to fully understand. We know, for example, that stars don’t form individually, but rather are born within vast interstellar molecular clouds. These stellar nurseries contain gas dense enough for gravity to trigger the formation of stars. In spiral galaxies, these molecular clouds are most commonly found within spiral arms, which is why stars are most often born in spiral arms.

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 by Evan Gough

This is a Simulation of the Interstellar Medium Flowing Like Smoke Throughout the Milky Way

The figure shows a section through the cube of the turbulence simulation. The colors show the density contrast relative to the mean density of the gas. Its turbulent structure is clearly recognizable. Image Credit: Federrath et al, 2021.

How do stars form?

We know they form from massive structures called molecular clouds, which themselves form from the Interstellar Medium (ISM). But how and why do certain types of stars form? Why, in some situations, does a star like our Sun form, versus a red dwarf or a blue giant?

That’s one of the central questions in astronomy. It’s also a very complex one.

October 14, 2020October 14, 2020 by Evan Gough

We’re Made of Starstuff. Especially From Extremely Massive Stars

An illustration of a protoplanetary disk. The solar system formed from such a disk. Astronomers suggest this birthplace was protected by a larger filament of molecular gas and dust early in history. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

A new study shows how massive young stars create the kind of organic molecules that are necessary for life.

A team of researchers used an airborne observatory to examine the inner regions around two massive young stars. Along with water, they found things like ammonia and methane. These molecules are swirling around in a disk of material that surrounds the young stars.

That material is the same stuff that planets form from, and the study presents some new insights into how the stuff of life becomes incorporated into planets.

July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 by Evan Gough

The Corona Australis Molecular Cloud. Normally this Looks Like a Dark Blob in the Sky. But in Infrared, it Looks Like This.

A composite image of the Corona Australis molecular cloud from the ESA's Herschel and Planck Space Observatories. Image Credit: ESA/Herschel/Planck; J. D. Soler, MPIA

The Corona Australis is a constellation in the southern hemisphere. It’s name literally means “southern crown.” One of its features is the Corona Australis molecular cloud, home to a star-forming region containing young stars and proto-stars. It’s one of the closest star-forming regions to us, only about 430 light years away.

The ESA has given us a new composite image of the cloud with data from the Herschel Space Observatory and the Planck Space Observatory.