Using powerful telescopes peering into deep space, astronomers
have confirmed a key theory about the formative of massive stars,
the journal Nature reported on Wednesday.
Images obtained by NASA's orbital Spitzer Space Telescope and
from a ground-based European telescope showed a dusty disc closely
encircling a newly-born but huge star.
It is the first direct evidence that very large stars -- those
with masses at least 10 times that of the Sun -- are born in the
same way as smaller brethren, from a disk-shaped cloud of dust and
gas.
A competing theory was that massive stars were formed from
smaller stars that merged.
"This is the first time we could image the inner regions of the
disc around a massive young star," said Stefan Kraus of the
European Southern Observatory.
"Our observations show that formation works the same for all
stars, regardless of mass."
The astronomers looked at a large star known as IRAS 13481-6124,
about 20 times the mass of the Sun, located about 10,000 light
years in the constellation of Centaurus.
have confirmed a key theory about the formative of massive stars,
the journal Nature reported on Wednesday.
Images obtained by NASA's orbital Spitzer Space Telescope and
from a ground-based European telescope showed a dusty disc closely
encircling a newly-born but huge star.
It is the first direct evidence that very large stars -- those
with masses at least 10 times that of the Sun -- are born in the
same way as smaller brethren, from a disk-shaped cloud of dust and
gas.
A competing theory was that massive stars were formed from
smaller stars that merged.
"This is the first time we could image the inner regions of the
disc around a massive young star," said Stefan Kraus of the
European Southern Observatory.
"Our observations show that formation works the same for all
stars, regardless of mass."
The astronomers looked at a large star known as IRAS 13481-6124,
about 20 times the mass of the Sun, located about 10,000 light
years in the constellation of Centaurus.
