THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF PRE-STELLAR DISCS

 

This series of radiation hydrodynamical calculations follows the collapse of one solar-mass molecular cloud cores all the way to the formation of the stellar core.

The pre-stellar disc that is formed has a radius approaching 100 AU, and the end of one of the spiral arms manages to collect enough gas to form a self-gravitating fragment. All of this evolution occurs before the stellar core forms (which occurs at the end of the animation). This calculation was performed using 1 million SPH particles.

Source and further reading:
http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/people/mbate/Animations/prestellar_discs.html

Simulation & visualisation by Matthew Bate, University of Exeter