Protostars

Question 1

What is a protostar?

Answer 1

a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud.A protostar looks like a star but its core is not yet hot enough for fusion to take place.

Question 2

What is the first step in stellar evolution?

Answer 2

gravitational collapse of a giant molecular cloud

Question 3

How does a star begin to form?

Answer 3

Molecular clouds

Question 4

What is a molecular cloud/ dark nebula?

Answer 4

interstellar clump or cloud that is opaque because of its internal dust grains

Question 5

Are protostars visible?

Answer 5

They appear faint because they are surrounded by dust.

Question 6

Protostars magnetic field

Answer 6

As the protostar rotates, it generates a strong magnetic field which generates a strong protostellar wind, which is an outward flow of particles into space

Question 7

Core temperature

Answer 7

the core has to exceed 10 million kelvin for hydrogen fusion

Question 8

What is a brown dwarf?

Answer 8

“failed star”

A protostar with less than 0.08 solar masses that never reaches the 10 million K temperature needed for efficient hydrogen fusion.