Skip to main content

Astronomy (thesaurus)

Search from vocabulary

Concept information

Preferred term

star accretion  

Definition

  • The process by which an object increases its mass under the influence of its gravitational attraction. Accretion plays a key role in a wide range of astrophysical phenomena. In particular stars result from the accretion of material by a protostar from a surrounding molecular cloud. The accumulation of mass on the protostar involves the formation of an accretion disk. Theoretical and observational investigations of protostars and newborn stars indicate the important role of magnetic fields in this process. They favor the magnetospheric accretion model for mass transfer from the circumstellar disk onto the newborn star. (An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics, by M. Heydari-Malayeri, https://dictionary.obspm.fr/index.php?formSearchTextfield=accretion&formSubmit=Search&showAll=1)

Entry terms

  • stellar accretion
  • stellar mass accretion

In other languages

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-X63CG8SM-P

Download this concept: