Known as a protostar, it is this hot core at the heart of the collapsing cloud that will one day become a star. As the cloud collapses, the material at the center begins to heat up. Turbulence deep within these clouds gives rise to knots with sufficient mass that the gas and dust can begin to collapse under its own gravitational attraction. A familiar example of such as a dust cloud is the Orion Nebula. Stars are born within the clouds of dust and scattered throughout most galaxies. Consequently, the study of the birth, life, and death of stars is central to the field of astronomy. Moreover, stars are responsible for the manufacture and distribution of heavy elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and their characteristics are intimately tied to the characteristics of the planetary systems that may coalesce about them. The age, distribution, and composition of the stars in a galaxy trace the history, dynamics, and evolution of that galaxy. Stars are the most widely recognized astronomical objects, and represent the most fundamental building blocks of galaxies.
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