Chapter 21, Problem 6E

Look at the four stages shown in Figure 21.8. In which stage(s) can we see the star in visible light? In infrared radiation?

Figure 21.8 Formation of a Star. (a) Dense cores form within a molecular cloud. (b) A protostar with a surrounding disk of material forms at the center of a dense core, accumulating additional material from the molecular cloud through gravitational attraction. (c) A stellar wind breaks out but is confined by the disk to flow out along the two poles of the star. (d) Eventually, this wind sweeps away the cloud material and halts the accumulation of additional material, and a newly formed star, surrounded by a disk, becomes observable. These sketches are not drawn to the same scale. The diameter of a typical envelope that is supplying gas to the newly forming star is about 5000 AU. The typical diameter of the disk is about 100 AU or slightly larger than the diameter of the orbit of Pluto.