What phase follows gravitational collapse within a birth cloud, resulting in a baby star shrouded in dust?
Answer
Protostar
The journey of a star begins inside vast molecular clouds or nebulae. As material clumps together under its own self-gravity, the continuous gravitational collapse generates friction, which heats the accumulating material. This results in the formation of a protostar, which remains enveloped and hidden by the surrounding cloud of gas and dust. This embryonic stage is characterized by dynamic activity, such as accretion processes seen in T Tauri stars, which involves drawing in surrounding material until the core is massive and hot enough to initiate the next critical stage: core ignition and nuclear fusion.
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