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Massive stars like HH 1177 form much faster and live much shorter lives than low-mass stars like the Sun. They are very difficult to observe in our Galaxy because they are often hidden from us behind a dense shroud of dust. However, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the matter from which stars are born is fundamentally different from locally: it has a very low dust content.
“Therefore, we can freely study the young star HH 1177 in its natural cocoon, getting an albeit distant but detailed look at the early stages of star and planet formation,” the authors of the discovery concluded.