NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a star-forming cloud in the constellation Scorpius. The eerie landscape appears ghostly, but it's actually teeming with new life.
The Lupus 3 cloud is about 500 light-years away from Earth and contains white wisps of gas that swirl throughout its region. In the lower-left corner, a dark dust cloud can be seen near a bright star, casting a striking contrast to the glowing nebulous landscape.
At the heart of this cloud are young T Tauri stars - actively forming new stars in a specific stage of development. These stars go through various stages as they contract under gravity and eventually become main sequence stars that fuse hydrogen to helium in their cores. Studying these stars can provide valuable insights into the star formation process.
New images from Hubble are being added daily between January 12-17, 2026. Follow @NASAHubble on social media for the latest updates and view Hubble's Stellar Construction Zones for more images of young stellar objects.
The Lupus 3 cloud is about 500 light-years away from Earth and contains white wisps of gas that swirl throughout its region. In the lower-left corner, a dark dust cloud can be seen near a bright star, casting a striking contrast to the glowing nebulous landscape.
At the heart of this cloud are young T Tauri stars - actively forming new stars in a specific stage of development. These stars go through various stages as they contract under gravity and eventually become main sequence stars that fuse hydrogen to helium in their cores. Studying these stars can provide valuable insights into the star formation process.
New images from Hubble are being added daily between January 12-17, 2026. Follow @NASAHubble on social media for the latest updates and view Hubble's Stellar Construction Zones for more images of young stellar objects.
OMG I'm still trying to wrap my head around this image 
! A star-forming cloud that looks like a ghostly landscape? Mind blown! The contrast between the dark dust cloud and the glowing nebulous landscape is insane 
. And can we talk about how cool it is to see young T Tauri stars forming new stars?! It's like nature's own light show 
. I wish more people knew about the wonders of space exploration - it's not just about reaching Mars, it's about understanding the universe and all its mysteries 
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! If you're as stoked as I am, make sure to follow @NASAHubble on social media for the latest updates 
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! I mean, this star-forming cloud in Scorpius is literally GLOWING and it's so cool to see all the different stages of star formation happening right before our eyes. And those young T Tauri stars at the heart? Whoa, they're like the baby versions of our sun, going through their own journey of life 
. I love how NASA is sharing these images daily between Jan 12-17 '26, it's like a countdown to more amazing pics! Keep an eye on @NASAHubble for updates 
But seriously, look at all that gas swirling around – it's crazy! And those young T Tauri stars are basically the future, right? I mean, we're still learning about how they form and what happens next. It's like our understanding of the universe is still unfolding before our eyes 
i mean, who needs Star Wars when you have T Tauri stars forming new life at the heart of that cloud? 
️ those scientists must be like superheroes, saving the galaxy one star at a time 
btw, has anyone else checked out NASA's Hubble Space Telescope live streams? I heard they're gonna drop some new pics daily starting Jan 12-17 
. But seriously, it's crazy to think that there's actually life happening right now in this thing. I mean, we can see all these young T Tauri stars forming new stars and it's just wild... 
And what's with these "star-forming clouds" anyway? Just a bunch of gas and dust, right? I'm not buying the whole "new life" thing... it's probably just a bunch of old dead stuff floating around. And those young T Tauri stars? Who cares about their development stages? It's all just gonna end up as some boring old main sequence star or whatever... 
it's like they're trying to figure out how to be awesome or something. And those T Tauri stars at the center? they're like the original hipsters - all about being young and forming new stuff 
and that star-forming cloud in the corner its like a dark and mysterious portal leading to who knows what the science behind it though i'm no expert but the fact that they can learn so much from these young T Tauri stars about how stars form and all that is just mind-blowing
I'm loving this new pic from Hubble! That ghostly landscape is actually super teeming with life - like, whoa! 500 light-years away and it's packed with gas and dust. You can see the dark dust cloud near that bright star, looks like a dramatic contrast to the whole nebulous thing. And those young T Tauri stars? So cool! Studying them could give us a lot of insight into how new stars form. I'm all about exploring our universe and learning more about it 
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. I mean, think about it, we're just starting to unravel the mysteries of our own galaxy with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and now they're showing us a star-forming cloud that's like a cosmic version of our own city's development phase 
. And what's interesting is that studying these stars can give us insights into our own planet's formation process, which is pretty cool considering we're still debating whether our own climate policies are working out