Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sagittarius (Sgr)  ·  Contains:  7 Sgr  ·  9 Sgr  ·  B296  ·  B88  ·  B89  ·  HD164535  ·  HD164536  ·  HD164537  ·  HD164585  ·  HD164602  ·  HD164865  ·  HD164906  ·  HD164933  ·  HD164947  ·  HD165052  ·  HD165133  ·  HD165246  ·  HD314900  ·  HD314901  ·  HD315012  ·  HD315017  ·  HD315018  ·  HD315024  ·  HD315026  ·  HD315028  ·  HD315031  ·  HD315032  ·  HD315033  ·  HD315147  ·  LBN 25  ·  And 9 more.
The Adolescence of Stars - NGC6530, north.stargazer
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The Adolescence of Stars - NGC6530

The Adolescence of Stars - NGC6530, north.stargazer
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The Adolescence of Stars - NGC6530

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Description

90% of all the stars we see in our galaxy are classified as "main sequence stars". This means that they have progressed to the point of creating nuclear fusion in their cores and are converting their hydrogen into helium. The remaining 10% is made up of stars that are approaching the end of their life, such as red giants or white dwarf stars. But it also includes a small percentage of very young "pre-main sequence stars". 
NGC6530 is a cluster of these rare adolescent stars. About 15 million years ago, these stars began forming in the heart of the HII region known as the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8). A large portion of that Hydrogen cloud has been consumed in the creation of this cluster; with most of them appearing in just he last 1-2 million years.
The cluster includes over 650 stars, with 333 of them being classified as T Tauri-type. This is a very specific category of pre-main sequence stars that are under 2x the mass of our own sun but still too cool to generate nuclear fusion.
At the very beginning, a proto-star is just a giant ball of dust and gas. Once a proto star has gathered as much matter as it can, it begins to clear away all surrounding material, expelling it's gaseous nursery and finally becoming optically visible. T Tauri stars at this stage are contracting under immense gravitational forces and this is where their energy first comes from. Once those pressures and the resulting temperature reach about 15,000,000 degrees Celsius, nuclear fusion begins and the star enters the main sequence and "adulthood".

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