stellar nursery

English

Stellar nursery in the Prawn Nebula. European Southern Observatory

Noun

stellar nursery (plural stellar nurseries)

1. (astronomy) An area of outer space within a dense nebula in which gas and dust are contracting, resulting in the formation of new stars.
   • 1964 January 1, Ronald Kotulak, “City's science role boosted during year”, in Chicago Tribune, page C18:

     Karl Henize, a Northwestern astronomer, reported finding a cluster of 33 stars in a stellar nursery. The stars recently condensed from surrounding clouds of dust.

   • 1993 January 8, Paul Leavitt, “Satellite gives boost to 'Big Bang' theory”, in USA Today, page O3A:

     NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer satellite photographed dusty regions of the Milky Way, which are our galaxy's stellar nurseries.

   • 2006 November 2, “Space policy: Mercy mission”, in Economist, retrieved 22 July 2011:

     Since its launch in 1990 the Hubble space telescope has captured beautiful images of the universe, such as the birth of stars in stellar nurseries.

See also

• molecular cloud

References

• “stellar nursery”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.