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• The solar system formed from a clump of gas
• There was enough gas to self gravitate
• As gas clump contracted, it got hotter
• Gas at center got hottest
• Analogy: lecture hall in summer
• became protosun
• Gas doesn't all head perfectly to center
• Rotation
• As gas contracts, spins faster
• Conservation of angular momentum (ice skater illustration)
• Spinning faster causes disk shape
• Think pizza
• We see stars forming in other nebulae
• Disks called protoplanetary disks (proplyds)

Orion Nebula

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