Massive stars, defined as those more than eight times the mass of our sun, form rapidly despite losing material through stellar winds and radiation. Scientists have struggled to explain how these stars overcome feedback effects to accumulate such large amounts of mass.
Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile revealed a young star drawing in material through two large-scale streamers. One streamer appeared directly connected to the star's central region, showing a velocity gradient that hinted at both rotation and infall. This suggests the gas flow supplies enough material to counteract feedback and maintain dense stellar surroundings.
The team expected to observe a dust disk spanning several hundred astronomical units, but instead found spiral-like structures extending inward toward the star. "We found streamers feeding what at that time was thought to be a disk, but to our surprise, there is either no disk or it is extremely small," said corresponding author Fernando Olguin.
These findings indicate that streamers, independent of disks, can act as massive gas highways to fuel star formation. The researchers plan to survey additional regions to determine if this mechanism is widespread, while also probing closer to stars to assess the existence of small-scale disks.
Research Report:Massive extended streamers feed high-mass young stars
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