Stellar Nurseries: Birthplaces of Stars

Stellar nurseries are vast clouds of gas and dust where new stars are born.
These regions are also called nebulae, often glowing in brilliant colors.
Gravity pulls clumps of material together, sparking the birth of protostars.
Some nurseries stretch for hundreds of light-years across space.
The Orion Nebula is one of the closest and most famous stellar nurseries.
Stellar nurseries often give rise to clusters of stars, not just single ones.
Winds from young, massive stars carve cavities and sculpt the surrounding gas.
Infrared telescopes are key to studying stellar nurseries, as dust hides them from visible light.
These nurseries also contain the raw material for planets, moons, and asteroids.
Over millions of years, the nursery disperses, leaving behind newly formed stars.