protostar for 18 July 2025

Protostar Latest News

A team of researchers at the IIST, Thiruvananthapuram, recently discovered radio emission with a special property known as circular polarisation near a massive young protostar that is still forming about 4,500 light-years from Earth.

About Protostar

• A protostar is an early stage in the star formation process. 
• It is a large mass of gas and dust formed as a result of the contraction of a giant molecular cloud in the interstellar medium. 
• As the cloud collapses, gravitational energy is converted into heat, warming the still-forming protostar. 
• It may last from 100,000 to 10 million years, depending on the mass of the star.
• It begins with an increase in density in the molecular cloud core and ends with the formation of a pre-main-sequence star. 
• Pre-main-sequence stars of similar mass to the Sun are known as T-Tauri stars. 
• Once hydrogen fusion ignites in the core of a star, it begins producing energy and becomes a main sequence star.
• Protostars are usually surrounded by dust, which blocks the light that they emit, so they are difficult to observe in the visible spectrum.

Source: TH