amber straughn showed us what a difference hubble's upgraded infrared camera made, just three years agoghn: stars are born inside these dust clouds. and this is going to give you a clue on why infrared is so important, is because in infrared light, what you see is the stars inside, shining through. >> whitaker: you see the stars inside. how big is this cloud area? >> straughn: top to bottom, these pillars are about ten light years, which is about 60 trillion miles. >> whitaker: 60 trillion miles? >> straughn: yes. space is big. >> whitaker: "big" and miraculous, with constant celestial regeneration. straughn calls this "the everything picture," because you can see old stars blowing up; and new stars forming. >> straughn: any time you see these sorts of dark cloudy regions, you can imagine that there's stars being born inside there. >> whitaker: where are the dying stars? >> straughn: and the dying stars, we think that this one could explode any day, literally. or it could be a thousand years from now. but near, near term in astronomers'-- >> whitaker: in cosmic time, any day. >> straugh