Why can a supernova remnant trigger the formation of new stars in a molecular cloud?
This nebula is the product of a supernova explosion; in this section, the blast wave has encountered an area of dense interstellar gas, creating turbulence in the wave and causing it to glow. The picture is a composite of three images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
A supernova remnant can trigger the formation of new stars when the massive star that exploded was located within a molecular cloud.1
As the remnant expands, it generates violent shock waves that compress the surrounding interstellar gas. This compression increases the density of the gas within the cloud, which can force dense clumps of material to become unstable and undergo gravitational collapse. Once these regions collapse, they can form new protostars, effectively initiating a new cycle of star birth.123