NASA's flying telescope helps uncover formation of a monstrous star

A team of researchers using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have gained insight into the magnetic processes that enabled the formation of a monstrous star.

BYF 73, the stellar nursery where the action is occurring, is not your average star-forming cloud. Despite its size, it has a young star at its core that holds the record for the highest known rate of protostellar mass accretion, the process in which a star gains mass from its environment.

Peter Barnes, a research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and his team used SOFIA and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to examine the magnetic fields within this cloud amid ongoing star formation. They were able to map the polarization of dust grains in BYF 73, thanks to the high resolution and sensitivity that the two observatories offer in their respective wavelength ranges.

Today at #AAS241: a monster! 👹The cloud BYF 73 has a monstrous star growing quickly in its core. SOFIA studied the relationship between magnetic fields and gas density in the cloud to help uncover the requirements for such a monster to form. More: https://t.co/5HgtYIO4E7 pic.twitter.com/sEJxLFUA0A

— SOFIA Telescope (@SOFIAtelescope) January 12, 2023

The researchers discovered that the strength of the magnetic field and density of the gas in BYF 73 are both at the higher end of the typical range for star-forming clouds. This suggests that the process occurring in BYF 73 is not necessarily unique, but its large density in comparison to its small size may help astronomers understand the threshold needed for gravity to take over and form stars. Gravity is the only force that can create stars, but the unusually strong magnetic field in BYF 73 could be working against it, preventing the formation of lower-mass stars until gravity is strong enough to form a massive one.

The synergies between SOFIA and ALMA's research on magnetic fields have shed light on the factors involved in the early stages of the formation of a massive star, as seen in MIR 2.