When triggered by some external agent, shockwaves can propagate through molecular clouds of gas and dust to create pockets of dense material. At a certain limit, that dense gas and dust collapses and begins to form new stars. Researchers modeled this interaction using a high-power laser and a foam ball. The foam ball represents a dense area within a molecular cloud. The high-power laser creates a blast wave that propagates through a surrounding chamber of gas and into the ball, where the team observed the compression using X-ray images.
