: How can we see stars being formed

 : How can we see stars being formed?

While they are not lit?

There are trillions of stars in the universe. This is not an exaggeration. The universe is vast and ancient. Our universe is about 13.8 billion years old and the observable universe is at least 93 billion light years in diameter. According to a conservative estimate, there are more than two trillion galaxies in the observable universe. There are about 100 billion stars in a galaxy like our Milky Way. Infer from this that there are countless stars in the universe. In addition to gold, the average age of a star like the Sun is at least 10 billion years. The bigger a star is, the shorter its lifespan. Stars younger than the Sun can be up to 20 billion years old, which is more than the age of the universe.

 The oldest star ever discovered is 190 light-years away from Earth.

In the world of astronomy it is called "Methuselah".

The star is estimated to be as old as our universe, 13.8 billion years old. (There is a difference of at least 8 million years in this age). As if it is one of the earliest stars in the universe.

 How are stars formed?

Stars are actually made of hydrogen gas. Yes, the same gas which, if reacted with oxygen, becomes water

It is indispensable for life.

When an unusual amount of hydrogen gas begins to accumulate in one place, it pulls more gas and space around it due to gravity.

Thus, with the increase in the amount of hydrogen gas, the mass of the star begins to increase, but this star does not become bright until the intense pressure of the atomic gravity of the hydrogen gas in it and the increasing temperature of millions of degrees Celsius.

Do not start the process of fusion due to which hydrogen atoms are converted into heavier helium atoms and at the same time emit intense light and radiation.

乄: Star formation does not happen overnight. It takes at least a million years for a star to become fully illuminated. After this long period of time the star would burn up through the process of fusion

If so, this view is probably the most beautiful view in the universe. The birth of a star is like the birth of a child, which brings joy to the faces of the parents, perhaps due to the illumination of such a star in the universe, life will be born in many planets around it like the earth. be

But the question is that when a star is being formed, how can astronomers see it? Because it is not bright.

The answer is light!!! But not the light that your eyes and mine can see. This is a special type of light called infrared light.

: Light is actually an electromagnetic wave. Just as water waves fluctuate, light waves also fluctuate. Wavelength is the distance between two adjacent ups and downs of a continuous wave. As if the unit of violin became the unit of distance. Because this distance is extremely short. That is why it is measured in nanometers. A nanometer is actually one billionth of a meter. For comparison, the size of a hydrogen atom is 0.1 nanometer. That is 10 billionth of a meter.

 Light waves can be of different wavelengths. The full range of wavelengths of light is called the spectrum. Different parts of this spectrum are classified in science. .

: For example, wavelengths of light from 380 to 700 nanometers are called the visible spectrum because the human eye can see it.

Similarly, the color of light with a wavelength of 650 to 700 nanometers appears red to the human eye, but the light with a wavelength of 700 nanometers to 1 mm is called infrared. This light cannot be seen by the human eye. Everything that has some temperature emits infrared light. To measure this infrared light, special detectors are made that can detect them. Infrared cameras that can see objects even at night are equipped with such special detectors.

 Because objects emit infrared light even in the dark.

So stars that are not yet bright, the temperature of the hydrogen gas in them gradually increases during the process of their formation. This gives off infrared light from the atoms that can be seen in the gas around the forming star and even if we have sensitive infrared telescopes. And that's why the James Webb Telescope, due to be launched in December 2021, is actually a Infrared telescopes not only show us the past of the universe, but also the process of star birth. Thus, we can better understand the process of star formation through this telescope. And by better understanding the processes of the stars, we can better predict the early conditions of the Sun and the Solar System.