Heavyweight Stars Take Millions of Years to Grow
Gas clouds in the Milky Way give birth to stars, and the heaviest among them are true giants. Previously, it was thought that such a star ignites almost instantly, like a light bulb. But new research shows that a star grows gradually, like a snowball rolling down a mountain: the longer it rolls, the bigger it gets.
The authors compared two catalogs: bright gas clouds around young stars and the stars themselves.