bipolar outflow

Gas streaming outwards in two opposing directions from a newly formed star. The flow emerges from the centre of the star's accretion disc and is constrained to move along the rotation axis. The stellar wind, blowing out at typical speeds of 200 kilometres per second, sweeps up interstellar material before it, creating a double-lobed shell structure, extending outwards for a distance of about a light year. Bipolar outflows have been detected by the radio emission from the molecules they contain.