What is the approximate assembly time for a star fifteen times the Sun's mass during pre-main sequence contraction?
Answer
As little as 60,000 years
The text specifies a dramatic difference in the time required for stars to reach stability. A star possessing fifteen times the mass of the Sun completes its pre-main sequence contraction phase, moving from a diffuse cloud to a stable, hydrogen-fusing star, in a remarkably short period of about 60,000 years. This contrasts sharply with stars similar to our own Sun, which require a substantial duration, often cited as around 50 million years, to complete the same transition. This massive reduction in formation timescale directly demonstrates that higher stellar mass significantly accelerates the entire assembly process due to the dominant role of gravity.
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