Cloud → star
Dense regions within molecular clouds can collapse under gravity, heat up and become protostars.
NASA Science source ↗Outerspace · Formation & process
How structure emerges.
Four connected process stories, kept deliberately broad where the science remains active or the details vary by object.
Disk → planetary system
Star formation can leave a rotating disk of gas and dust in which solid material collides and grows into larger bodies.
NASA Science source ↗Star life → recycled material
Stars evolve according to mass; late stages can return material to space for later generations of stars and planets.
NASA Science / Webb source ↗Galaxies → larger structures
Galaxies organize into groups, clusters, walls and filaments; the largest pattern is described as the cosmic web.
NASA Science source ↗Uncertainty boundary: this route does not imply that every star, planet, galaxy or black hole follows one simple linear chain. The cards summarize broad source-supported process relationships; object-specific evolution can be more complicated.