Astronomy and astrophysics Star formation and the interstellar medium Concept
Jeans length
Summary
The Jeans length is the critical size above which a region of self-gravitating gas collapses instead of being held up by pressure. It depends only on the sound speed and the density of the gas. It is the threshold in the Jeans instability and a basic scale in the theory of star formation and of cosmological structure. The mass contained in a sphere of this size is called the Jeans mass.
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| Tag | KCDJ1QXTEQ |
|---|---|
| URI | m2://KCDJ1QXTEQ |
| Kind | concept |
| Writing | W0 stub |
| MSC | 85A30, 76E20 |
| Changed | 3 November 2026 |
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