I just was wondering how many stars were born in the inception of the Milky Way embedded in a multiple system, and the single stars we see nowadays had as origin a multiple system?
In which way could we get this kind of information? how do we set the initial conditions of our Galaxy?
We set the initial conditions of formation of our galaxy by observing distant ( probably a redshift greater than 7 wherein we can observe the star formation process) similar galaxies and correlating their information with respect to our own galaxy. There is or are certain theories stating that all stars might have been a part of binary star system or a cluster. But regarding the observation of singular stars, they may have formed in the outer edges of a giant molecular cloud where the density of hydrogen may have increased just about enough to form only a single star. Finally, concurring to current observations, the formation of giant galaxies such as our galaxy is the result of a bottom-up process. Thus the Milky Way may not have been "embedded" in a multiple system, but may have formed as a result of merger of many smaller galaxies. The density waves may have started at sometime after the merger thus giving our galaxy a spiral structure.
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