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The formation of massive stars and their environment

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The formation of massive stars and their environment This article explores how massive stars form in the Milky Way. The birth of these stars is a complex process that involves gravity, turbulence, and stellar feedback, all of which influence the flow of matter from interstellar clouds to compact disks. The ECOGAL project aims to investigate this balance of forces. Our Galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars, spanning a wide range of masses. Some are relatively small and faint, while others are up to 50–100 times more massive than our Sun. The most massive stars are extremely rare and typically lie thousands of light-years away, embedded in dense clusters together with many lower-mass stars. Despite being difficult to observe, these massive stars play a fundamental role in the evolution of the Milky Way.
DOI: 10.56367/oag-050-12252
Authors: Alessio Traficante, Ugo Lebreuilly, Alice Nucara, Duy Tung Ngo, Patrick Hennebelle, Sergio Molinari, Ralf Klessen, Leonardo Testi
Institutions: Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, National Institute for Astrophysics, Université Paris-Saclay, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Heidelberg University, University of Bologna
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7155049292
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