Observations of the birth of stars

One of the biggest questions in astronomy is ‘how are stars formed?'

Stars are born in clouds of gas and dust, which hides the birth from optical telescopes like Hubble. We use submm telescopes, such as the Atacama Large Millimetre Array, to see through the dust and witness the birth of stars as they happen.

We will soon be using the new MUSCAT camera, built by the Astronomy Instrumentation Group for the Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico, to carry out a search for the earliest moments in the lives of high-mass stars.