What's Happening?
A team of researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo have discovered that massive stars are fed by cosmic highways, or streamers, which transport gas from large distances to the star-forming regions. Using the ALMA telescope in Chile, they observed streamers feeding a young star, challenging the previous belief that accretion disks were the primary feeding mechanism. These streamers bring matter from scales larger than a thousand astronomical units, allowing stars to accumulate mass rapidly despite feedback effects.
Why It's Important?
This discovery provides a new understanding of how massive stars form and grow, which is crucial for astrophysics. It challenges existing models and suggests that streamers play a significant role in star formation. This could lead to revisions in theories about the lifecycle of stars and the distribution of matter in the universe, impacting our understanding of cosmic evolution.
What's Next?
The research team plans to study other star-forming regions to determine if streamers are a common mode of accretion for massive stars. They also aim to explore the gas close to the star to confirm the presence of small disks, which could further refine models of star formation.
