T Tauri star

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Any of a class of very young stars with masses less than about twice the Sun's.

Characterized by unpredictable changes in brightness, they represent an early stage in stellar evolution, having only recently been formed by the gravitational condensation of interstellar gas and dust. The energy by which they shine derives from the gravitational collapse itself. These young stars, though now contracting more slowly, are still relatively unstable and will remain so until their interior temperatures become high enough to support nuclear fusion for energy generation. More than 500 T Tauri stars have been observed.

More on "T Tauri star" from Britannica Concise:

star - Any massive celestial body of gas that shines by radiant energy generated inside it.

variable star - Star whose observed brightness varies noticeably in intensity.

More on "T Tauri star" from the 32 Volume Encyclopædia Britannica:

T Tauri star - any of a class of very young stars having a mass of the same order as that of the Sun. So called after a prototype identified in a bright region of gas and dust known as the Hind's variable nebula, the T Tauri stars are characterized by erratic changes in brightness. They represent an early stage in stellar evolution, having only recently been formed by the rapid gravitational condensation of ...

variable star - any star whose observed light varies notably in intensity. The changes in brightness may be periodic, semiregular, or completely irregular.

star cluster - The chief distinguishing feature of the members of a stellar association is that the large majority of constituent stars have similar physical characteristics. An OB association consists of many hot, blue giant stars, spectral classes O and B, and a relatively small number of other objects. A T association consists of cooler dwarf stars, many of which exhibit irregular variations in brightness. ...

Cosmos - Detailed radio maps of nearby molecular clouds reveal that they are clumpy, with regions containing a wide range of densities-from a few tens of molecules (mostly hydrogen) per cubic centimetre to more than one million. Stars form only from the densest regions, termed cloud cores, though they need not lie at the geometric centre of the cloud. Large cores (which probably contain subcondensations) ...

star - Stars form from the gas and dust of the interstellar medium. The matter between stars is not uniformly distributed in space but is spread in a patchy fashion. Occasionally, a massive cloud will accumulate sufficient matter for its own gravitational attraction to draw it still further together. Understanding of the details of this process is still incomplete.

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