WOW.com Web Search

Search results

  1. Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
  2. Star formation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_formation

    Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or " star -forming regions", collapse and form stars. [1] As a branch of astronomy, star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium (ISM) and giant molecular clouds (GMC) as precursors to ...

  3. Star - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star

    Stars can form orbital systems with other astronomical objects, as in planetary systems and star systems with two or more stars. When two such stars orbit closely, their gravitational interaction can significantly impact their evolution. Stars can form part of a much larger gravitationally bound structure, such as a star cluster or a galaxy.

  4. Galaxy formation and evolution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_formation_and_evolution

    e. The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have generated the variety of structures observed in nearby galaxies. Galaxy formation is hypothesized to ...

  5. Nebular hypothesis - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebular_hypothesis

    The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems ). It suggests the Solar System is formed from gas and dust orbiting the Sun which clumped up together to form the planets. The theory was developed by Immanuel Kant ...

  6. Formation and evolution of the Solar System - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of...

    Contents. Formation and evolution of the Solar System. There is evidence that the formation of the Solar System began about 4.6 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud. [1] Most of the collapsing mass collected in the center, forming the Sun, while the rest flattened into a protoplanetary ...

  7. Stellar evolution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution

    Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the current age of the universe. The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a ...

  8. Solar System - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System

    The oldest stars contain few metals, whereas stars born later have more. This higher metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun's development of a planetary system because the planets formed from the accretion of "metals". The region of space dominated by the Solar magnetosphere is the heliosphere, which spans much of the Solar System.

  9. Interstellar medium - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_medium

    In astronomy, the interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space.