Hubble Telescope shows baby stars forming in NGC 1333.

A Hubble image captures a protostar and other young stellar objects in the star-forming region NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud, about 950 light-years away. The image shows a reflection nebula and features identified as a protoplanetary disk and its shadow within the surrounding envelope.

Hubble Space Telescope captured a view of active star formation in the region NGC 1333. The image shows a protostar still accreting material alongside other young stellar objects. Light scattered off dust creates a reflection nebula, while dark stripes appear next to a bright point in the scene. Researchers interpret those stripes as a protoplanetary disk and the disk's shadow across the larger envelope of material. Observed details: - A protostar and nearby young stellar objects are visible within NGC 1333. - Two dark stripes flanking a bright point are reported as the signature of a protoplanetary disk and its shadow on the surrounding envelope. - The protostars show messy, dynamic behavior, including episodic accretion and energetic outflows such as jets that carve cavities in the cloud. - Reflection nebulae appear where starlight scatters off dust grains, making parts of the cloud glow. - NGC 1333 is part of the Perseus molecular cloud, located roughly 950 light-years from Earth. - High-resolution observations of protostellar jets in this area have been used like time stamps to connect bursts of activity with changes in the flow of material. Summary: The Hubble image highlights how accretion, outflows and disk shadows shape the immediate environment of forming stars, reinforcing that stellar growth can be episodic. Undetermined at this time.