Starbirth nebula N81. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of hot young stars in the nebula N81. This is a cloud of gas in which stars (white) formed as the gas coalesced. N81 emits light as the remaining gas is ionised by radiation from the new stars within it. The fine wisps of gas and dust seen silhouetted against the brighter parts of the nebula have been formed by the radiation pressure from the young stars' solar winds. N81 is around 12 light years across and lies about 200,000 light years from Earth in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way.