{"id":100,"date":"2018-09-11T18:31:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T16:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valeskavaldivia.space\/?page_id=100"},"modified":"2018-09-11T20:23:30","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T18:23:30","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/valeskavaldivia.space\/?page_id=100","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why studying star formation?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

One of the major challenges in modern astrophysics is understanding the processes that regulate star\u00a0formation and determine the properties of the resulting stars, how these processes vary with environment and epoch,\u00a0and what observational signatures of the process are detectable with modern telescopes. Star formation is not only\u00a0fascinating for its own sake, but also because it is a key ingredient of many other areas of astronomical research,\u00a0regulating \u2013 for example \u2013 the environments in which planets form, the formation, structure and evolution of galaxies,\u00a0and the build-up of the heavy elements<\/p>\n

The big picture: Molecular Clouds<\/strong><\/h1>\n

On the largest scales diffuse atomic gas undergoes\u00a0compressive motions, for example as it flows into a spiral arm (as observed in external galaxies) and forms massive\u00a0clouds. As the density increases, the cooling processes become more efficient. The gas thermal pressure decreases,\u00a0the gas becomes even denser and starts to shields itself against Ultra Violet (UV) radiation. This then favours the\u00a0transition from atomic to molecular hydrogen, which is the most abundant molecule formed in molecular clouds<\/p>\n