Welcome to Bedtime History. Hello, this is Brack.

Close your eyes and imagine you are standing in a wide open field. In the field you

see a gigantic white rocket reaching far up into the sky. As you walk up to the

rocket the door opens and you climb inside and find a seat and buckle up. Next you

hear the countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Suddenly the rocket rumbles as it lifts off the

ground and shoots through the sky. Pass the clouds and up up up into space. When

you look out the window you see the round blue ball over the far below. The rocket

is going faster and faster. You zoom past the moon as the rocket picks up speed.

Soon the other planets of our solar system pass you by. You look back and

notice the earth has grown smaller and smaller until it has disappeared from

view. Then suddenly you are traveling at the speed of light and before long you

have left the solar system and are deep in outer space. All is black. You travel

further and further until suddenly you look out your window and see a beautiful

cloud of dust and gas all swirling together. You have arrived at the place where

stars are born. It is called a stellar nursery which means a star-burning place.

Stars are sort of like people and that they are born and they grow until they

are bigger and then eventually they get old and die. But unlike people stars live

for millions or even trillions of years. Our own sun is a star it's just a lot

closer than the stars we see twinkling in the sky at night that appear so small.

For millions of years clouds and dust and gas in space swirl around each other in

what is called a nebula. Over time these clouds slowly group together into

clumps that eventually become baby stars or proto stars. Some stars grow bigger

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