BBC Focus Magazine

[Shadowwolf]

Using state of the art computer simulations, a team of astronomers from the University of Bonn in Germany have found the first evidence that the way in which stars form depends on their birth environment.

The team, based at the University of Bonn in Germany, publish their results in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Stars are thought to form in interstellar space from dark clouds of gas and dust. Their properties are expected to depend on the conditions of their dusty birth environment, in the same way that the temperature and constitution of clouds on Earth determines whether we experience drizzly weather, rain with large or small droplets, or a hail shower. In contrast, until now stars have appeared to unexpectedly form in the same manner everywhere. "Sites of star formation are the bad weather regions in a galaxy and the forming stars are, in a very rough analogy, like the raindrops condensing out of this material," comments team member Prof. Dr. Pavel Kroupa.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120511101254.htm