MSV-2035 Astronomy Document - Inside Design - FINAL - FINAL

Astronomy & Astrophysics 43 4.1.4 Formation of Stars and Planets Formation of stars and planets is an extremely important area of astrophysics. For instance, although the phenomenon of star formation is being studied for decades, the mechanism for formation of high mass stars relative to the low-mass star formation processes is still poorly understood. Indian astronomers have made significant contributions in this area through the studies of specific star forming regions, dark molecular clouds, young stellar objects, star clusters, etc., using data obtained from Indian facilities as well as other space and ground based facilities. Some highlights are the studies of star formation processes in the inner Galactic regions. These are particularly important to understand as star formation happens in an environment of relatively higher density and metallicity. Based on studies of the star forming regions, astronomers have also contributed to the estimates of the initial mass function and star formation rates in specific regions of our Galaxy as well as in other nearby galaxies. Figure 4: Colour composite image generated using data from ARIES 1.3m DFOT (V -band, blue colour), 2m HCT - TRISPEC (J-band: green, K band: red) overlaid with GMRT radio contour (1280 MHz) of the star forming region Sh2- 305, which is an HII region undergoing star formation due to impact of strong UV radiation from a nearby massive star. In the center is a young star cluster that is found to be embedded in a molecular cloud. The red sources are mostly embedded young stellar objects as seen from the deep K-band image that have formed mostly due to the impact of a strong UV radiation from a massive star (as seen by radio continuum contours). Figure credit: adapted fromPandey et al. 2020, Apj, 891, 81; Dewangan et al. 2020, ApJ, 898, 172 MEGA SCIENCE VISION-2035 Considerable work has been done on the theoretical front in the study of formation of planets and minor bodies like asteroids. There have been several detailed suggestions made regarding contributions to energy inventory that helps in understanding differentiation in planets. Similarly, there has been some recent work on the formation processes for