Dimethylmercury ((CH3)2Hg) is an organomercury compound. This colorless liquid is one of the strongest known neurotoxins. It is described as having a slightly sweet smell, although inhaling enough vapor to detect its odor would be hazardous.
The formation of a star begins with gravitational instability within a molecular cloud, caused by regions of higher density-often triggered by shock-waves from nearby supernovae (massive stellar explosions), the collision of different molecular clouds, or the collision of galaxies (as in a starburst galaxy).
These effects cause the temperature of a cloud to drop as the cloud shrinks from the 100Â°K seen in the cool interstellar medium and in the outer layers of molecular clouds to the 10Â°K found in the cores of molecular clouds.