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Protostellar Envelope

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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

The mantle of gas surrounding a protostar is called the protostellar envelope. This material is freely collapsing onto the central star and its surrounding disk. The envelope is the densest portion of a molecular cloud core that went into gravitational collapse. Infalling, envelope material impacts the protostar and disk, creating a radiating shock front. The envelope gas contains solid dust grains, which absorb all optical and ultraviolet radiation from the star and accretion shock, reradiating it at infrared and longer wavelengths. Within about 1 AU from the star, the dust grains are thermally destroyed by sublimation. The dust photosphere (10 AU) is the radius at which the grains are so sparse that radiation streams passed them unimpeded. The emergent spectrum resembles a cold blackbody.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Steven W. Stahler

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  1. Steven W. Stahler
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Correspondence to Steven W. Stahler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Stahler, S.W. (2014). Protostellar Envelope. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1305-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1305-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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