Very young stars lurk unseen in clouds of gas and dust in space, where they were born. In the direction of the Orion constellation, there is a vast cloud complex crucial for truly understanding the life and death of stars.

Norida Jazmín Ordóñez Toro has been awarded an International Astronomical Union (IAU) Division A (Fundamental Astronomy) PhD Prize Honourable Mention. She concluded her PhD in astrophysics at the Institute of Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics (IRyA) at UNAM Morelia in 2025.

Comets like Halley's are like messages our solar system left us when it was a baby. Even the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is a message sent by a planetary system that was born long ago and very, very far from Earth. What do they tell us? How are planets born around stars?