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MathDancer  ·  3421 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Astronomers spy a star with its planets right in the middle of formation

So cool. As a kid we still didn't know extrasolar planets existed and now we know 1931 (at least). Can someone explain or help me visualize how a typical star system initiates in a molecular cloud? I see the cloud as a "lumpy" 3D mess where the lumps are areas of higher density. Do some lumps just naturally collapse eventually or do other triggering events like a supernova usually precede star formation?