Stellar Formation

Stellar Formation brings together knowledge about the formation of stars. In seeking to determine the conditions necessary for star formation, this book examines questions such as how, where, and why stars form, and at what rate and with what properties. This text also considers whether the formation of a star is an accident or an integral part of the physical properties of matter. This book consists of 13 chapters divided into two sections and begins with an overview of theories that explain star formation as well as the state of knowledge of star formation in comparison to stellar structure and evolution. The places in which stars are forming are then analyzed by focusing on the distributions of very young stars, globules, and cloud fragments. The relationship between the distributions of stars and interstellar clouds is also considered. The chapters that follow explore the frequency distribution of stellar masses as well as the masses of aggregates of stars and interstellar clouds. The reader is also introduced to the rate and environment of star formation; the cloud-like structure of the interstellar gas; the ordering of interstellar clouds into spiral arms; and the conditions under which a cloud will contract until it is set inevitably on the route to becoming a star. The remaining chapters examine the fragmentation of clouds into protostars and the evolution of galaxies. This text will be of interest to students and practitioners of astronomy.