MNN - Mother Nature Network

In a universe of fantastic images, a newborn star can seem the most mystical. Cradled within the dusty arms of a nebula, a baby star almost seems to blink its way to a new, dynamic life. The lifespan of a star is made of a series of sequences. A star may spend most of its life in a “main sequence phase” where nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium is happening in its core. But before this happens, it lives as a protostar, or baby star.

 

Thanks to NASA’s advanced infrared space telescopes such as Hubble and Spitzer, we are able to view these star births as never before. Pictured here are newborn stars peeking out “from beneath their natal blanket of dust” in the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud as seen by the Spitzer Space Telescope.