The Stages of Star Formation

The process of turning a large cloud of gas and dust into a main sequence star is a complex one that is not yet fully understood. The main problem in studying the process is that the large amounts of gas and dust obscure our view of the changes that take place in the centre of the clouds (where the stars are being formed) until the stars blow away the outer layers of gas - which only happens when the stars are already formed. Luckily there is one way of peering much of the way in towards the centre of these cloud - by using radio telescopes. Radio waves are affected much less by dust than visible light and are thus able to view many of the processes that take place inside the gas clouds. The paragraphs below will summarise the main stages that have been identified.