What is the contracting, heating mass termed before it can sustain thermonuclear reactions?
Answer
Protostar
As a dense clump of interstellar material shrinks further under its self-generated gravitational pull, the gravitational potential energy stored within it is converted into thermal energy. This process causes the center of the collapsing region to heat up dramatically. This distinct, contracting, and heating mass, which has not yet achieved fusion ignition, is specifically termed a protostar. During this prolonged phase, the protostar continuously accretes more mass from the surrounding material, becoming increasingly hotter and denser at its core over millions of years.
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