Category: Ricerca

The Orion Molecular Cloud is likely the best target for studying star formation. In the past few million years, in fact, this cloud formed thousands stars over a wide range of stellar masses and in several episodes with different characteristics: From isolated low mass stars to populated and massive stellar clusters; from star formation from self-collapsing clouds to triggered star

“Stars form from the gravitational contraction of molecular clouds”: This is the basic concept of star formation process. However, the reality is much more complicated than this. The process that cause large (typically tens of light years) and cold (few degrees K) clouds of gas and dust to collapse into stars consists in a complex interplay between gravity, gas turbulence,

Pre-Main Sequence stars (which are still contracting and whose nucleus is still not hot and dense enough to ignite the nuclear fusion) are often observed surrounded by a disc of gas and dust called protoplanetary discs. Among the reasons why it is crucial to study these discs, it must be cited the fact that they are the environment of planet

The family of the potentially habitable exoplanets named “super-Earths” (rocky planets with a mass ranging between 2 and 10 times that of the Earth), counts a brand new member.   On Astronomy & Astrophysics has been recently published the study “HADES RV Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. V: A super-Earth on the inner edge of the habitable zone of the

An observation in X-rays of a single star 15 years long…The objective? The understanding of the coronal cycle in stars: do solar-like stars have a coronal cycle such as the one of our Sun?   The term “solar activity” includes all those phenomena observed in the solar photosphere, chromosphere, and corona related to the solar magnetic field, such as sunspots,

A recent press release has appeared on the NASA/Chandra website (link), dedicated to the binary system V745 Sco and the model developed by S. Orlando (INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Palermo), M. Miceli (University of Palermo) e J. J. Drake (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, US), which explains the nova explosion occurred on February 6th 2014.   V745 Sco is a binary system composed

Star forming regions are complex environments, shaped by the star formation process (which involves gravity, turbulence and magnetic fields) and the interaction between the clouds and the stellar winds and energetic radiation (X-ray and UV) produced by the newborn stars.   The interaction between clouds and stellar wind and radiation is of particular interest. Stellar radiation creates expanding fronts in