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Star Birth

Dark Cloud With Embedded Star

As each slider bar is manipulated, the view transitions from visible light to mid infrared light. In visible light: Visible light shows a dark cloud of gas and dust. In mid infrared light: An infant star is cocooned deep within the cloud. As each slider bar is manipulated, the view transitions from visible light to mid infrared light. In visible light: Visible light shows a dark cloud of gas and dust. In mid infrared light: An infant star is cocooned deep within the cloud.
Visible: Default View
Mid Infrared:
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Dark Cloud With Embedded Star

The dark, dusty cloud identified as L1014 hides a baby star inside its cocoon of dust. Shifting to infrared light allows us to peer into the dust and see a glowing, warm protostar on its way to becoming a star. In the mid-infrared view, the protostar glows red due to the warm glow of a surrounding disk of gas that both feeds the growth of the star and provides material for building a surrounding planetary system.
Visible: Visible light shows a dark cloud of gas and dust.
Mid Infrared: An infant star is cocooned deep within the cloud.
CREDITS: Visible: DSS. Mid-infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/c2d/C. Young (University of Texas at Austin).