Star Birth

Colossal molecular clouds, and they had to be hydrogen,
Created stellar nurseries, where stars first formed from clumps.
Cores of dust or gas, collected in the ripples, somewhat condensed,
Gradually increased in density, gradually generated heat,
Slowly increasing, swelling under the inexorable efforts of gravity,
Against the gas pressure, pushing outwards.
Squeezing closer, squashing and confining.
Protostellar clouds collapsing.
Falling apart,
Fragmenting hierarchically,
Fragmenting, till stellar mass was reached.
Radiating away energy as the density increases until,
Opacity curtails the efficiency of this release.
Thus raising the temperature,
And incidentally, inhibiting further fragmentation.
Rolling spheres of condensing gas, formed embryonic stars.

Where, at the centre, the collapse first ceased, a core formed,
The first hydrostatic core, became a focal point of ferocious heat,
Bombarded by gravity gathered gas, infalling upon it,
Shocked by collisions that made waves, and generated more energy.
Temperature hotly inflated, climbed and relentlessly raised,
Till at about 2K, the H2 array, did cleave apart,
Disassociated, each atom did leave, absorbing contraction energy,
Thus increasing density, still further; and further still,
The electron interchange, winners and losers, in ionization,
Atoms of hydrogen and helium, swapped electrons, and,
Absorbed contraction energy, thus increasing, still further, density.
Radiation recommences, contraction continues.
An astrophysical accretion, accumulating a deal of dust and gas,

Attractive gravity, drawing in, built yet more density.
Pushed pressure upwards, protecting the protostar from further collapse.
Though the collapsing cloud continued to rain material down onto it.
As it forms a circumstellar disc in orbit around the simmering star child.
Diffuse halo of dust and gas, from which later, planets may well evolve.
When some threshold of density and temperature was reached, say, 10 to the 6 K
Then deuterium fusion began. Heavy hydrogen, it had to be hydrogen,
Gained a proton,
and, you see,
transformed itself,
to helium-3.
Conveniently, the energy, thus produced, was conveyed, channelled by convection
To the surface of the protostar. Which now produced bipolar jets of gas.
Emission nebula, hurtling at hundreds of kilometres a second.
A fleeting phenomena that lasted only a few thousand years.
Hydrogen, and it had to be hydrogen, began to fuse,
And behold there was light.

STATIC

The Big Bang  (E) Science as poetry #2255502 by Adherennium Plotting something