Zoom into the Serpens Nebula

Serpens Nebula HBC 672

Shadows on Earth can be mysterious and foreboding, but when they occur in space, they can convey information we otherwise could not know. In a stellar nursery called the Serpens Nebula, nearly 1,300 light-years away, a young star’s game of shadow play is revealing secrets of its...

Compass Image of HBC 672

Animation of Disk Shadow

This artist’s animation begins with an overhead view of a young star with its planet-forming disk of gas and dust. The view then tilts down to show the star with its disk edge on. The disk blocks the light from the star, creating a pair of cone-like shadows. When viewed from far...