Figure 4-2 Dusty Regions of Star Formation (a) The three bright young stars shown in the inset of this image of the Cone Nebula in the constellation Monoceros are still surrounded by much of the gas and dust from which they formed. Astronomers hypothesize that the solar system formed from a similarly small fragment of a giant interstellar gas and dust cloud. (b) Newly formed stars in the Orion Nebula. Although visible light from many of the stars is blocked by the nebula, its infrared emission travels through the gas and dust to us.