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Credit: NASA/STSCI. Others credit Steward Observatory

Starbirth in the Carina Nebula at High Resolution

A team of astronomers including UA scientists Megan Reiter and Nathan Smith have published some of the deepest, sharpest images of a star cluster destroying its birth cocoon (lead author Pat Hartigan received his doctorate from LPL at UA; John Bally of Colorado is the other collaborator). The Carina Nebula is one of the most massive star forming regions in the solar neighborhood. Strong winds from massive stars in clusters like Carina may compact gas in the star-forming cloud, triggering the birth of new stars. However, these strong winds also disperse the gas and dust that allows stars and planets to form. By combining new optical and infrared images, astronomers can study in much greater detail how massive stars in a young cluster carve out and eventually destroy the large star-forming cloud. The details of this process, the dance between the beginning and ending of star formation from the winds from massive stars, have important consequences for creation of solar systems like our own. You can see an article HERE.

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