Astronomers have been give the unique opportunity to bear witness to the birth of a new sun.

This brand new star, which could likely turn out to be a twin of our own Sun was given birth within the womb of the famous towering star maker known as the Pillars of Creation.

“We think this is a very, very early version of our own Sun,” said Jeffrey Linsky of JILA, a joint institute of the University of Colorado, Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The embryonic Sun, designated E42, was first seen as it began peering from one of the Pillar’s outer noduler appendages within the Eagle Nebula that is located within the Pillars of Creation. This nebula is one of the more prolific star-forming regions in that area.

Scientists could be witnessing the earliest stages of what the first baby steps were like in the development of our own Sun and solar system.

[Image courtesy of SPACE.com