Hot and brilliant young stars are eroding their birthplace in this infrared view from Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are concentrated in the red zone near the upper right of the image. Their radiation is blasting away the surrounding clouds of gas (green), sculpting long "pillars of creation" -- streamers of gas and dust in which nascent stars are embedded. A star cluster, known as Cepheus B, is at top right. Most of the stars in this view are no more than a few million years old. [NASA/JPL/Caltech]