Hubble has captured vivid views of newly forming stars inside the Orion nebula. Stars form when a cloud of interstellar gas collapses under the force of its own gravity. Because the cloud is spinning slowly, it leaves behind a dark disk of orbiting debris that may well form a planetary system.

Planets are born in the spinning disks of debris left behind as stars form. The matter in these disks gradually collects into ever larger lumps that ultimately become planet-sized.

In the lower picture (four sections) the red dot at the center of each object is a young star. Surrounding each star is a dark disk of debris. About 4.6 billion years ago, before planets formed around our Sun, the solar system probably looked like this.