You cannot see the star in either photograph, though their light illuminates the surrounding nebula. The dark band is the dark disk surrounding it, which we see edge-on. The diameter of the disk is 50 billion kilometers. The wispy regions above the disk are gas and dust still falling into the disk. Though relatively thin, the disk is 25 billion kilometers across.
Powerful jets spew out of the star.
I n spite of the numerous examples of stars and disks, and the excellent theoretical studies of the process of star formation, we have limited observations of what happens inside the disks. Fortunately, we have materials preserved from the disk of one star, the Sun. These materials are the components in primitive chondritic meteorites. Crystallization experiments indicate that CAIs cooled at rates of about 2 to 50 o C per hour. Most chondrules cooled faster, about 100-1000 o C per hour.