Star Formation Studies with a Large Space Telescope

Details Star Formation Studies with a Large Space Telescope Star Formation Studies with a Large Space Telescope

Jan 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990ngst.conf...49b&link_type=abstract

The Next Generation Space Telescope, p. 49

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Spaceborne Telescopes, Star Formation, Infrared Telescopes, Stellar Activity, Hubble Space Telescope, Stellar Evolution, Protostars, Planetary Systems, Molecular Clouds, Active Galactic Nuclei, Disk Galaxies

Scientific paper

Star formation is not a single topic. It encompasses virtually all of astronomy and virtually all interesting astronomical scales. This short paper can therefore be only the most cursory overview of the science that can be done with the next generation successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Nevertheless, the broad range of science that can be addressed with this proposed instrument (which I will refer to as the NGST) in attacking questions of star formation is absolutely overwhelming. Furthermore, it is clear from other chapters in this report that many of the most interesting questions really devolve into questions of how stars form on various scales. The first point that must be emphasized is that the actual process of star formation is hidden from view at optical wavelengths. The dust that veils the evolution from protostars into stars makes it impossible for any telescope working at optical wavelengths to probe into the placental environment to view the actual workings of the birth of a star. It is for this reason that much of the most important work that has been done in the last twenty years has occurred at millimeter and optical wavelengths. It is therefore largely as an infrared telescope that the NGST will obtain its most important observations for teaching us how stars form. There are nevertheless important questions that can be addressed only at optical wavelengths. The primary emphasis, then will be on the infrared and secondarily the optical capabilities of the NGST. In this report, I first discuss the general areas that make up the topic of star formation and then address specific questions that astronomers are currently struggling with. The last part will be a discussion of the detailed capabilities of the NGST in addressing some of these questions.

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