Star Cluster IC 348: Three Brown Dwarf Stars Identified | Webb Telescope

Star Cluster IC 348: Three Brown Dwarf Stars Identified | Webb Telescope

These images from the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) instrument on the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets. They found three brown dwarfs that are less than eight times the mass of Jupiter. The smallest weighs just three to four times as much as Jupiter, challenging theories for star formation.

The wispy curtains filling the image are interstellar material reflecting the light from the cluster’s stars—what is known as a reflection nebula. The material also includes carbon-containing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. The bright star closest to the center of the frame is actually a pair of type B stars in a binary system, the most massive stars in the cluster. Winds from these stars may help sculpt the large loop seen on the right side of the field of view.

Image 1 Description: Wispy hair-like filaments of pink-purple fill the middle of the image, curving left and right on either side of the center. On the right, the filaments form a dramatic loop that seems to extend toward the viewer. At lower left are additional yellowish filaments. Two prominent, bright stars near the center of the image show Webb’s eight-point diffraction spikes. Dozens of fainter stars are scattered across the image.

Image 2 Description: Image of a star cluster and nebula, with three image details pulled out in square boxes stacked vertically along the right. Main image is showing wispy pink-purple filaments and a scattering of stars. Each of the three boxes along the right corresponds to a small detail, numbered and circled, in the main image. Box 1 (top): A detail from the lower left of the main image shows a pair of small circular pinkish-white spots on a yellowish-brown background. Box 2 (middle): A detail from the middle of the lower part of the main image shows a single small circular pinkish spot on a yellowish-brown background. Box 3: A detail from the lower right edge of the main image shows a small circular pinkish spot on a dark brown background.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and K. Luhman (Penn State University) and C. Alves de Oliveira (European Space Agency)

Release Date: Dec. 13, 2023

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