<p>Using "Mopra" radio telescope, an international team, spotted a massive cloud of mostly hydrogen gas and dust, three or more light-years across, that is collapsing in on itself and will probably form a huge cluster of stars.<br /><br />Dr Stuart Ryder of the Anglo-Australian Observatory said the discovery was made during a survey of more than 200 gas clouds. "With clouds like this we can test theories of massive star cluster formation in great detail," he said.<br /><br />The gas cloud, called BYF73, is about 8,000 light years away, in the constellation of Carina (the keel) in the Southern sky.<br /><br />Evidence for "infalling" gas came from the radio telescope's detection of two kinds of molecules in the cloud - HCO+ and H13CO+. The spectral lines from the HCO+ molecules in particular showed the gas had a velocity and temperature pattern that indicated collapse. <br /><br />The CSIRO telescope observations were confirmed by observations with Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ATSE) telescope in Chile.<br /><br />The team has calculated that the gas is falling in at the rate of about three per cent of the Sun's mass every year -- one of the highest rates known.<br /><br />Follow-up infrared observations made with the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope showed signs of massive young stars that have already formed right at the centre of the gas clump, and new stars forming.<br /><br />Gas cloud BYF73 was found during a large-scale search for massive star-forming regions -- the Census of High and Medium-mass Protostars, or CHaMP. This is one of the largest, most uniform and least biased surveys to date of massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy.<br /><br />The findings have been published in the 'Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society' journal. <br /></p>
<p>Using "Mopra" radio telescope, an international team, spotted a massive cloud of mostly hydrogen gas and dust, three or more light-years across, that is collapsing in on itself and will probably form a huge cluster of stars.<br /><br />Dr Stuart Ryder of the Anglo-Australian Observatory said the discovery was made during a survey of more than 200 gas clouds. "With clouds like this we can test theories of massive star cluster formation in great detail," he said.<br /><br />The gas cloud, called BYF73, is about 8,000 light years away, in the constellation of Carina (the keel) in the Southern sky.<br /><br />Evidence for "infalling" gas came from the radio telescope's detection of two kinds of molecules in the cloud - HCO+ and H13CO+. The spectral lines from the HCO+ molecules in particular showed the gas had a velocity and temperature pattern that indicated collapse. <br /><br />The CSIRO telescope observations were confirmed by observations with Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ATSE) telescope in Chile.<br /><br />The team has calculated that the gas is falling in at the rate of about three per cent of the Sun's mass every year -- one of the highest rates known.<br /><br />Follow-up infrared observations made with the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope showed signs of massive young stars that have already formed right at the centre of the gas clump, and new stars forming.<br /><br />Gas cloud BYF73 was found during a large-scale search for massive star-forming regions -- the Census of High and Medium-mass Protostars, or CHaMP. This is one of the largest, most uniform and least biased surveys to date of massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy.<br /><br />The findings have been published in the 'Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society' journal. <br /></p>