protostar
/ˈproʊtoʊˌstɑr/
noun
- A very early stage in the formation of a star, when a cloud of gas and dust begins to collapse under gravity but has not yet become hot enough for nuclear fusion to begin.
- A protostar is surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust.
- The protostar will eventually become a main-sequence star like our Sun.
- Astronomers observed a new protostar forming in a distant nebula.