An international team of astronomers has captured the explosive growth spurt of very young protostar named HOPS 383.

The star is located in the nebula of the constellation Orion around 1,400 light years from Earth, where plenty of other young stars are still in their birth clouds.

The earliest phase of development of the newborn star was captured by using data from orbiting observatories and ground-based facilities.

The growth spurt typically happens when the forming celestial body accumulates a lot of gas and dust relatively quickly. Stars are formed within collapsing fragments of cold gas clouds. As the cloud contracts under its own gravity, its central region becomes denser and hotter.

When this process ends, the collapsing fragment transforms into a hot central protostar, which is surrounded by a dusty disk roughly equal in mass. Astronomers call this a 'Class 0' protostar.

The "Class 0" phase is short-lived and lasts roughly 150,000 years. It is considered as the earliest developmental stage for stars like the Sun.

Using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite, the astronomers noticed that HOPS 383 lit up in the space and got 35 times brighter between 2006 and 2008.

The sudden outburst was first observed by astronomer Emily Safron. It is believed that the prolonged outburst has been caused by an accumulation of gas from its surrounding disk.

According to astronomers, it is possible that the star developed an extreme hot spot at the point of impact, which caused the disk to heat up and shine brighter.

The team is continuing to monitor HOPS 383 and has proposed new observations using Nasa's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the world's largest flying telescope.