Protostar

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/protostar

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the end of phase?Occurs when infalling gas is depleted, transitioning to a pre-main-sequence star
2. What is the related phenomena?Bipolar outflows, jets, and the formation of protoplanetary disks
3. How does a protostar form?It starts when a dense part of a molecular cloud gets so heavy that its own gravity pulls it together. As it collapses, it spins faster and heats up, eventually becoming a hot core that is the protostar.
4. What is an accretion disk?The material falling onto the protostar often spreads out into a flat, spinning disk around it. The protostar pulls mass from this disk, which helps it grow.

Molecular Cloud: Vast, cold interstellar clouds of gas and dust that serve as stellar nurseries.
Gravitational Collapse: The process by which a cloud or fragment of matter contracts under its own gravity.
Accretion Disk: A rotating disk of matter formed around a central celestial object, such as a protostar.
Pre-main-sequence Star: A star that has completed its accretion phase but has not yet initiated stable hydrogen fusion.