This image is included to continue the story from the previous image, so please read that first. This is a closeup of two young stellar objects emerging from the cloud. They are hot but likely not yet fusion ignited, as there is little Ha signal from the cloud......

During the manufacture of liquified hydrogen (at much higher T and P) a metal surface, or carbonaceous material is used to both nucleate condensation and transfer the heat of condensation away. Using this method, only a few millimetres of hydrogen condensation on the metal can be tolerated before heat transfer through the hydrogen can no longer keep up with both the latent heat of condensation in addition to heat generated through proton spin isomerization when H2 condenses.

Perhaps, hydrogen does not so much “condense” on the dust, but might be better described as adsorption – but this is much the same thing. In either case, Van der Waal forces described as either condensation or adsorption are what hold molecules together. Indeed, parts the surface of dust likely exhibit stronger van der Waal forces than inter molecular hydrogen, to a point that any condensation likely first occurs where these forces are strongest – on the surface of dust. But hydrogen has another ace up its sleeve - the ability to form a much stronger connection with any electro-phyllic atoms, such as oxygen, nitrogen, or florine.

This special bond that occurs between a hydrogen atom and electro-phyllic atoms is confusingly called a “hydrogen bond”, but is actually different from the covalent bond that holds the hydrogen molecule together but is very much stronger than normal van der Waal forces. Hydrogen bonds are responsible for water having a much elevated melting and boiling point temperatures than its low molecular weight indicates as hydrogen in a water molecule is highly attracted to the oxygen in another. This “super-power” of hydrogen is responsible for life as we know it, and why the universe exists as it is.

Within a molecular cloud there is also plentiful carbon monoxide with which hydrogen gas can form “hydrogen bonds” which can cause a mixture of CO and hydrogen to condense together at a much higher temperature and pressure as a solution. Hydrogen will also dissolve into the myriad of hydrocarbons and inorganic materials that exist within the molecular cloud. Any solutions that do condense or adsorb onto dust will also attract hydrogen as a second layer, likely making a colloidal suspension out of the dust particles themselves.

Such suspensions of dust will inevitably bump into one another and possibly stick together to form clumps – and a number of forces are likely responsible for this including magnetic, electrostatic, and zeta-potential. Like a comet, it is this condensed material that ultimately forms the glue that holds the material together. At this point, the clumps are likely made of the finest of dust in a bid to keep the heat transfer between condensing material and the dust high by presenting a large area to volume ratio. The process of dust forming clumps is likely best described as flocculation.

As the clumps get larger and larger, like a frog in a warming pot of water, gravity slowly begins to exert an influence – at least within the clump itself. Pressure begins to increase within the condensed material as it is squeezed by additional material being added around it through additional condensation and flocculation. It is important to the embryonic star at this stage, however, that heat transfer can keep the temperature low, as vapourization at this stage will destroy the structure. In addition, condensation must continue to occur on the surface so that it maintains a continuous phase from the centre to the outside to establish hydrodynamic equilibrium and build phase pressure. Clumps themselves collide to form larger ones, provided that the energy released upon collision is small.

Eventually, as the floc’d material gets large enough and its accompanying gravity acceleration becomes large enough, it can attract hydrogen molecules directly to add to its mass. This process must occur very gradually because it will be accompanies with a lot of heat (due to Joule Thomson compression and viscous shearing), and eventually overwhelm the condensed material’s ability to shed it via long-wave radiation. The mass must be large enough so that the pressure can keep the now warming condensate above its critical pressure – again to avoid revaporization and disintegration of the nucleated protostar. My back of the envelope calculations suggest that the

At this point I am sure I have left out some critical details, and likely gotten wrong on some other details, but it is the most plausible route to star nucle