Apod-042.mp4 -

As you zoom deeper into the clouds, the story shifts from destruction to birth. Tucked away in the dark, dusty pillars are —protoplanetary disks. These are infant solar systems, just like ours was 4.5 billion years ago. Within these tiny smudges of dust, gravity is pulling together the rocks and gas that will one day become planets, perhaps even oceans and forests.

It is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth and can be seen with the naked eye as the "fuzzy" star in Orion's Sword. APOD-042.mp4

For three million years, the Great Nebula in Orion—known to astronomers as —remained a silent, glowing ghost in the winter sky. But inside the "APOD-042" data stream, the silence is replaced by a violent, beautiful symphony of creation. As you zoom deeper into the clouds, the