iVillage

It is now considered fact that the birthplace of stars is the womb of vast nebular clouds of dust and gas distributed throughout space. In these relatively cool and dark clouds, proto-stars (new stars) form through a process of gravitational condensation or contraction. It is imagined that perhaps some outside force, maybe in the form of gravitational energy from a passing stellar object, causes a dust cloud to begin the contraction process. These huge clouds are known to be of various densities. They contain spots where the gas and dust is somewhat denser than in the surrounding regions of the cloud. These denser areas attract still more material toward themselves until a huge amount of matter, many times the size of our solar system, is formed. The contraction process becomes critical—nothing within the protostar can stand up to the crushing weight of gas and dust that continues to accumulate. A crisis is reached.