The Sun, which is the closest star to Earth, is just one of an estimated 100 billion billion stars in the universe.
These images show stars in various stages of development. They are taken from Stars: A journey through stellar, birth, life and death by Raman Prinja (New Holland Publishers)
Magnificent columns of mostly hydrogen gas and dust that give rise to newborn stars within the Eagle nebula.
Image: NASA, ESA, STcI, J Hester and P Scowen (Arizon State University)
Newly formed stars are ejecting powerful winds of matter to sculpt the surrounding NGC602 nebula in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Image: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration; acknowledgement: B Whitemore (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Spitzer Telescope infrared image of the Serpens South open star cluster of about 50 stars, located almost 850 light-years from Earth.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Allen (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) & Gould's Belt Legacy Team
Hubble Telescope image of the Pismis 24 open-star cluster which hosts a massive binary star system where each of the two components is 100 times the mass of the Sun.
Image: NASA, ESA and J. Maiz Apellaniz (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalucia, Spain)
Detailed mosaic image of the Crab nebula, which is the remnant of a supernova explosion that was first recorded by astronomers almost 1,000 years ago.
Image: NASA, ESA, J Hester and A Loll (Arizona State University)
Hot blue stars are seen nestled within giant star-forming clouds in this Hubble Space Telescope view toward the Carina spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Image: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Colloboration; Acknowledgement: J Maiz Appellaniz (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalucia, Spain)
The Helix planetary nebula is constructed from matter ejected by a dying Sun-like star, almost 690 light-years away.
Image: NASA, ESA, C R O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), M Meixner and P McCullough (STScI)
Striking Hubble Telescope image of the star V838 Mon, which has previously ejected layers of gas from its outer regions.
Image: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
Spitzer Telescope infrared view toward the centre of our Galaxy, revealing supernova remnants amidst vast glowing regions of interstellar gas and dark dust.
Composite X-ray and optical image of the highly energetic and active inner region around the Crab Nebula pulsar.
Image: X-ray image: NASA/CXC/ASU/J
Hubble Space Telescope view toward the core of the Centaurus A galaxy, which is predicted to host a massive black hole.
Image: E J Schreier (STScI), NASA
You can find more images like these in Stars: A journey through stellar birth, life and death by Professor Raman Prinja.