06 January 2022
Based on data from FAST observations in 2019, a team of international scientists found that magnetic fields cannot hold off gravitational collapse in the early stages of star formation as scientists previously assumed. The discovery has challenged the standard theory of star formation.
Scientists measured the strength of the magnetic fields in the L1544 region, a pre-stellar core in early transition into becoming a star located in the Taurus star forming regions about 450 light years from Earth. Using an observational technique called HI Narrow Self-Absorption, scientists discovered that the magnetic pressure was too weak to prevent gravitational contraction at this early stage of the process.
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Link to publication in Nature