Great clouds of hydrogen gas, hundreds of light years in diameter, populate the slowly spinning whirlpool of stars that constitutes our Milky way. These clouds, called nebulas, are not very dense, but they are a step up, however slightly, from the emptiness that surrounds them. In the clouds themselves are lumpy. Denser portions of the gas swirl into balls, collecting more hydrogen as they go. Eventually, and we're talking many millions of years here, the ball gets dense enough to begin the hydrogen-bomb reaction that causes a star to erupt with intense heat and light.
Many stars can form from a single nebulous cloud.
The stars are close enough to each other that they stay together, bound by gravity, for hundreds of millions of years. So you have plenty of time to check them out. Do so as soon as you can, though. Odds are you won't last as long as they will. In this universe of ours, nothing lasts forever.