Shema Fel D.

Garay SCI 10 – Physics

2019-09016 Activity M3 – 2

What are the factors that affect star formation at present?

Stars are formed from a collapsed interstellar cloud or from the fragments of interstellar
clouds which eventually forms an opaque shaped and then it will become a protostar and that
protostar will become a T Tauri star where that star will undergo a process, thermonuclear fusion
and it will become a newborn star. These are the sequence or steps of the formation of the stars
but what are the factors that can affect the formation of the star?
Stars are recognized as an astronomical objects and it is also a fundamental building
blocks of galaxies. A lot of people find stars magical. There are also people who loves star and
they are called an Astrophile. Thousands, hundreds and even millions are fascinated by stars but
only few people know how star is formed and what factors can affect a star’s formation.
According to Sanders (2021), the star formation rates will depend on many factors such
as temperature of the gas, turbulent motions, gravitational potential of the surroundings,
magnetic effects, ionizing photons from nearby stars and many more. Sanders also stated that
the chemical composition of the ISM or the interstellar medium can also affect the formation of
star. He stated that the cooling and heating process that takes place in the ISM or interstellar
medium are highly dependent on the abundance of heavy elements or the metallicity. He
suggests that the metallicity only has a minimum effect during the phase of driven turbulence
but it also has a maximum effect one that turbulence is turned off.
In principle, there are two main factors that influence the star formation. First, the
amount of molecular gas that’s present in the galaxies and secondly, the timescale over which
gas reservoir is depleted by converting it into stars. Fieldman (2020), stated that “the star
formation is indeed directly linked to the overall gas reservoir and thus set by the rate at which
gas enter or leaves a galaxy”. This gives as a theory that the higher star formation activity of
starburst will most likely has a different physical origin, such as the galaxy interactions or
instabilities on galactic disks.
Sanders, N. (2021). How does chemical composition affect star formation?. Astrobites.
https://astrobites.org/2011/01/18/how-does-chemical-composition-affect-star-
formation/#:~:text=In%20detail%2C%20though%2C%20the%20star,from%20nearby%20stars%
2C%20and%20more.

Fieldman, R. (2020). The link between star formation and gas in nearby
galaxies. Communications Physics. DOI: 10.1038/s42005-020-00493-0