NGC 346, que se muestra aquí en esta imagen de la cámara de infrarrojo cercano del telescopio James Webb de la NASA (NIRCAM), es un clúster estelar dinámico que se encuentra dentro de una nebula a 200,000 años de luz. Webb revela la presencia de muchos más bloques de construcción de lo esperado anteriormente, no solo para las estrellas, sino también en los planetas, en forma de nubes repletas de polvo e hidrógeno.
Las plumas y los arcos de gas en esta imagen contienen dos tipos de hidrógeno. El gas rosado representa el hidrógeno energizado, que típicamente hace tan caliente como alrededor de 10,000 ° C (aproximadamente 18,000 ° F) o más, mientras que el gas más naranja representa el hidrógeno molecular denso, que es mucho más frío a alrededor de -200 ° C (aproximadamente -300 ° F) o menos, y el polvo asociado.
El gas más frío proporciona un ambiente excelente para que se formen estrellas y, como lo hacen, cambian el entorno a su alrededor. El efecto de esto se ve en las diversas crestas en todo momento, que se crean a medida que la luz de estas estrellas jóvenes desglosa las densas nubes. Los muchos pilares de gas brillante muestran los efectos de esta erosión estelar en toda la región.
créditos
Science
NASA, ESA, CSA, Olivia C. Jones (Reino Unido ATC), Guido de Marchi (Estec), Margaret Meixner (USRA)
Procesamiento de imágenes
Pagan (STSci), Nolan HoBe (USRA), Laura Lenkić (USRA), Laurie E. U. Chu (NASA Ames)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 346 |
| Object Description | Cluster and Nebulosity in the Small Magellanic Cloud |
| R.A. Position | 00:59:04.95 |
| Dec. Position | -72:10:09.15 |
| Constellation | Tucana |
| Distance | 200,000 light-years away (61,300 parsecs) |
| Dimensions | This image is about 3.9 arcminutes across (240 light-years). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created with Webb data from proposal: (M. Meixner). |
| Instrument | NIRCam |
| Exposure Dates | 16 June 2022, 26 June 2022, 10 Oct 2022 |
| Filters | F200W; F277W; F335M; F444W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Red: F444W, Orange: F335M, Cyan: F277W, Blue: F200W |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
