Hubble views stars' birthplace: Check out this glittering landscape in the constellation Serpens

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this glittering landscape in the constellation Serpens. The picture shows a small, dense cloud of gas and dust called CB 130-3 that seems to billow across a field of background stars.

Dense cores like CB 130-3 are of particular interest to astronomers as they are the birthplaces of stars. According to NASA and ESA, during the collapse of these cores, enough mass can accumulate in one place to reach the temperatures and densities required to ignite hydrogen fusion, marking the birth of a new star.

In this celestial landscape, captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), a compact object teetering on the brink of becoming a star is embedded deep within the dense core.

"The gas and dust making up CB 130-3 affect not only the brightness but also the apparent color of background stars, with stars toward the cloud's center appearing redder than their counterparts at the outskirts of this image. Astronomers used Hubble to measure this reddening effect and chart out the density of CB 130-3, providing insights into the inner structure of this stellar nursery," ESA and NASA wrote in a post.

Cloudy vision ☁️This #HubbleFriday features "dense core" CB 130-3. This compact clump of gas and dust is the birthplace of stars! As the core collapses, its dense mass reaches the temperature required to spark hydrogen fusion, creating a new star: https://t.co/JDFt1wr4wT pic.twitter.com/WYXWxtCldf

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) November 18, 2022