(ORDO NEWS) — The gas clouds in the Cygnus X star forming region are composed of a dense core of molecular hydrogen (H2) and an atomic shell.
These cloud ensembles dynamically interact with each other to quickly form new stars.
This is the result of observations made by an international team led by scientists from the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Cologne and the University of Maryland.
Until now, it has not been clear exactly how this process is unfolding. The Cygnus X region is a huge luminous cloud of gas and dust about 5,000 light-years from Earth.
Using observations of the spectral lines of ionized carbon (CII), the scientists showed that the clouds formed over several million years, which by astronomical standards is a fast process.
The observations were carried out as part of an international project led by Dr. Nicola Schneider from the University of Cologne and Professor Alexander Tilens from the University of Maryland.
The study used data from the FEEDBACK program of the SOFIA flying observatory. The new results change previous ideas that this particular process of star formation is quasi-static and rather slow.
The dynamic formation process now observed would also explain the formation of particularly massive stars.
By comparing the distribution of ionized carbon, molecular carbon monoxide and atomic hydrogen, the team found that the shells of interstellar gas clouds are made of hydrogen and collide with each other at speeds of up to twenty kilometers per second.
“This high speed compresses the gas into denser molecular regions where new, mostly massive stars are formed. We needed CII observations to detect this otherwise “dark” gas,” Dr. Schneider said.
The observations show for the first time a weak CII emission from the periphery of the clouds, which was previously unobservable. Only SOFIA and its sensitive instruments were able to detect this radiation.
SOFIA was operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) until September 2022. The observatory consisted of a converted Boeing 747 with an integrated 2.7-meter telescope.
SOFIA observed the sky from the stratosphere (above 13 kilometers) and covered the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, just beyond what humans can see.
Although SOFIA is no longer operational, the data collected so far is essential for basic astronomical research, as there is no longer an instrument that can display the sky in detail in this wavelength range.
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