Astronomers have witnessed star formation as it occurred in a massive protostar some 4,200 light years from Earth.

The star called the W75N(B)-VLA 2 is currently undergoing a chaotic evolution. In a span of just 18 years, the protostar is shown in a pair of images from the beginning and the end of this brief cosmic event.

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Radio telescopes first detected a cloud in 1996 in the region called W75N(B), which is apparently a star forming region. The cloud had no structure at first and also had a directionless magnetic field. Solar winds tossed the cloud in every possible direction.

Astronomers, however, said observations from last year revealed these stellar winds have begun to align with the cloud's poles and the magnetic field around it is now aligned around the cloud of dust and gas.

These are certainly remarkable, said Carlos Carrasco-Gonzalez from the Center of Radioastronomy and Astrophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The dramatic change was seen in real time and means this object provides an exciting opportunity to observe how a very young star evolves in its early stages of formation.

The images of the star's development were obtained using the Very Large Array Telescope of the National Science Foundation, some 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico.

During this rapid, turbulent evolution of the young star, the environment was made up of dense hot clouds of dust and gas, surrounded by a ring of dust called torus.

Apart from that, the protostar had hot ionized winds ejected by the star during a repetitive process, expanding the cloud equally in every direction and resulting in a spherical shell around the star.

Scientists believe when the solar winds hit the dust torus, the winds traveled slower. The torus' magnetic poles, however, have less resistance and shifted more quickly. That's why the spherical shell surrounding the star has an elongated shape stretching outwards.

Working with an international team from Korea, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands, Carrasco-Gonzales says they've predicted this in just a span of 18 years. Scientists now estimate W75N(B)-VLA 2 is eight times more massive than the Sun.

This study was published in the journal, Science.

TagsW75N(B)-VLA 2, massive star formation growth images, protostar, [PHOTO] Astronomers Watch Stunning Young Star Formation in Real Time