Star Formation Questions

1. What initiates star formation in galaxies? How does it persist?

2. Which type of telescope (e.g. x-ray, optical, UV, infrared, radio, etc) is best to observe dusty objects?

3. Do you think there is an upper mass limit to stars? Think about this: The most massive star found to date is 265 solar masses. Yet stars form from clouds typically 1 million solar masses so there is plenty of material that could go into building a star.

4. Based on what we know about star formation, what are the first stars such a mystery?

Other things you should know:

1. What is a protostar; T-Tauri star? Are they fusing hydrogen?

2. What is a brown dwarf? Is it fusing hydrogen? What is its composition?

3. What are protoplanetary disks? Why do we think they are a necessary part of star formation?