Is Our Solar System Unique

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Why might material in clouds collapse to form stars?

What force helps clouds collapse?

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Why might material in clouds collapse to form stars?

What force helps clouds collapse?

gravity pulls inwards

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If the cloud is big and cold, gravity will win out and the cloud will collapse.

gravity pulls inwards

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The cloud is spinning.

What happens as it collapses?

(Think of the water in your bathtub drain)

gravity pulls inwards

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The cloud spins faster and faster, until it can’t

support itself, and flattens out (think pizza dough)

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Lucky for us, this is the perfect way to form a solar system.

blob = future sun

disk = future solar system

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Formation basics

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Ways to Find Out

Look at our own solar system, and think about how it might have formed

Look at other solar systems while they form

Look for and study other solar systems

Create computer models and see if you can produce a solar system

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Stars form in Dense Clouds of Dust and Gas

What do we mean by dust? What do we mean by gas?

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The Orion Nebula

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Disks really exist!

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Disks really exist!

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Young stars have asteroid belts and Kuiper belts

but notice how much bigger this is than the solar system!

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In reality, disks are very hard to image.

Why do you think this is?

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In reality, disks are very hard to image.

Why do you think this is?

So we usually use spectroscopy to study disks.