Dragon Cloud: Key to Understanding Massive Star Formation?
Astronomers using the ALMA telescope have observed the Dragon cloud, a dense cloud of molecular hydrogen that serves as the site of star formation throughout its complex. They found several regions of active star formation, but also a strange dense clump lacking any newborn stars at all. The clumps were very dense and actively collapsing, implying that those clumps were going to soon start forming stars. The observations support the "core accretion" model of star formation, where the most massive stars collapse from single units of gas clouds and start their lives already with incredibly high masses.