[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

rally,

Your characterization of star formation as "about as complicated as it can be" is accurate.

Trying to figure out how stars form turns out to be a lot like meteorology and weather forecasting, only much much much much harder.....the variety of phases of matter and chemical compositions, the variety of temperatures and pressures, is much greater than in Earth's atmosphere.
And, to make it even more complex, the variety of spatial scales that have a bearing on how stars form is gigantic......from the intergalactic gas that rains down on the disk component of our galaxy in order to "recharge" its gas content, through to the scale of individual gaseous clouds that turn into stars (under one light year).

A lot of "explanations" of star formation are mere theory, without observational support.....but the current generation of infrared and sub-mm and millimeter -wave instruments should have the resolution to make it more of an observational science.

I will see if I can find a couple of more explanations of star formation for you.

cheers, robert