The image below shows a very young protostar, still deeply embedded in its dust cloud. The star itself is the bright red spot near the base of the dark region. The bright spots above the star and strange spikes are artifacts in the image. Getting pictures of these objects is hard, because they remain covered in dust.

As illustrated below, protostars continue to collapse, releasing gravitational energy as they shrink and grow continually denser. On a diagram showing the star's luminosity and temperature (a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram), the star follows a complicated path known as the Hyashi track as it slowly reaches a point where fusion can begin. The mass of initial protostar determines what the final stellar luminosity and temperature will be.