Clouded Star Birth
Snaking across this image is a dark cloud of cosmic dust surrounding two brilliant blue stars.
This is Lupus 3, a star-forming region 600 light-years away from the Earth.
Dust and gas are squeezed together by gravity to create dazzlingly hot and bright infant stars.
The Sun was born in a similar region about 4.6 billion years ago...
...so studying Lupus 3 helps us understand more about our own cosmic history!
The image was made using two powerful telescopes in Chile — the VLT Servey and the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope.
Transcribed by ESO, translated by —