Stellar Lifecycle: Formation

   Nebula are the nurseries of the stars. It is within these great cosmic clouds that stars form. Nebula were first formed after hydrogen and helium condensed into the first stars. These stars had an incredibly high mass, so they burned their fuel fast and died hard. Their death came in the form of a hypernova, showering the cosmos with the elements formed in the stellar core. After many generations of these high-mass stars, these heavier-than-hydrogen atoms mixed in with the clouds of hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium formed after the cooling of the big bang.

   Nebula are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, but after the deaths of the first stars, they became flooded with elements like carbon, silicon, and iron. Within the nebulae, gas starts to clump together and get denser. Over time, the clump starts to give off energy from the friction of the atoms rubbing together and from the clump's own gravity pulling in the gas and putting it under pressure, making it hotter and hotter. This is the stage known as a protostar. Eventually, the accumulation of gas becomes hot enough to support fusion. In this process, the atoms race around and hit each other, releasing energy in the form of photons, or light. This is why stars shine. About 99% of the gas goes into the star, (or stars, as many solar systems have been found to have multiple stars) but the rest of the material goes into making planets like the Earth.

   So stars are born inside of nebula. All stars have their beginning inside these great clouds, all stars including the Sun. I will continue the next post with a more detailed explanation of fusion and its implications for the formation of us. I would like to apologize for my absence, I just went through another move and we were having difficulty setting up our WiFi. But I will be posting back soon with Stellar Lifecycle: Fusion! Until then, salutations!