Trying to figure out what is going on in a star system is often a complex, many-telescope process. 

In another case of more data makes for better understanding, astronomers have pointed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array’s (ALMA) inner cluster of 7-meter dishes at the Taurus Molecular Cloud and gone searching for points of future star formation. The compact array makes it possible to see faint smooth structures that might be missed with a higher resolution detector. 

In a new paper in the Astrophysical Journal by K. Fujishiro and collaborators, 32 sites of star formation are described, and these systems vary ever so slightly in their star formation stage, allowing astronomers to capture how stars form, from gas collapse to the first hint of jet formation and onwards. These results are consistent with what we’ve seen in other star-forming regions, and by studying different systems, with slightly different masses and chemistries, we can better understand the details of how stars form in varied environments.

More Information

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan press release 

“FRagmentation and Evolution of Dense Cores Judged by ALMA (FREJA). I (Overview). Inner ~1,000 au Structures of Prestellar/Protostellar Cores in Taurus,” K. Tokuda et al., 2020 August 7, The Astrophysical Journal (Preprint on arxiv.org)

“A Low-velocity Bipolar Outflow from a Deeply Embedded Object in Taurus Revealed by the Atacama Compact Array,” K. Fujishiro et al., 2020 August 7, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Preprint on arxiv.org)