Answer
The Jeans instability arises in the context of the interstellar medium, where it governs the conditions under which a self-gravitating cloud of gas fragments into smaller, gravitationally bound structures. This instability occurs when Thermal energy of the gas is insufficient to counteract the gravitational forces within the cloud. As a result, the cloud collapses and fragments into denser clumps, leading to the formation of stars and other celestial objects.