Re: Distribution of stars in our galaxy

>>>>> "M" == Makhno <root@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

M> Thank you for you reply it was most helpful. One query though,

>> The clusters are far more likely to form in giant molecular clouds
>> (GMC), which themselves are more likely to form in spiral arms, but
>> the actual location of a GMC, and therefore an O and B cluster,
>> within a spiral arm is for most purposes "random."

M> What is a GMC exactly? A gas cloud, or does the term molecular here
M> refer to a cloud of a large number of stars?

Nope, "molecular" here refers to the clouds' composition. The clouds
are most often detected by their emission from the CO (carbon
monoxide) molecule. In turn, the CO molecules are thought to trace
the distribution of molecular hydrogen (H_2), which, because of its
atomic structure, does not radiate efficiently and so is quite
difficult to detect. So to answer your original question, GMC are
clouds of gas and dust, within which stars form.

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