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Surveys have shown that binary stars are as common in young clusters of
stars and protostars as they are in the solar neighbourhood, implying
that binaries are formed during the star formation process. |
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Stars form from the collapse of giant gas clouds of
molecular hydrogen which populate the spiral arms
of our galaxy. |
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Computer simulations of the
gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud indicate that if the cloud
rotates faster than a critical rate of approximately one revolution every
two million years, the cloud will fragment into binary protostars with
highly eccentric orbits.
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This prediction is confirmed by observations, which
show that about half of the observed dense cloud cores rotate faster
than the critical rate and so will likely go on to form
binary protostars.
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