Esta imagen del instrumento Nircam (cámara de infrarrojo cercano) en el telescopio espacial James Webb de la NASA muestra la parte central del clúster Star IC 348. Los astrónomos peinaron el clúster en busca de pequeños enanos marrones de flota libre: objetos demasiado pequeños para ser estrellas pero más grandes que la mayoría de los planetas. Encontraron tres enanos marrones que son menos de ocho veces la masa de Júpiter, que se rodean en la imagen principal y se muestran en los extracciones detalladas a la derecha. El más pequeño pesa solo tres o cuatro veces Júpiter, desafiando las teorías para la formación de estrellas.
Las cortinas tenues que llenan la imagen son material interestelar que refleja la luz de las estrellas del clúster, lo que se conoce como una nebulosa de reflexión. El material también incluye moléculas que contienen carbono conocidas como hidrocarburos aromáticos policíclicos o HAP. La estrella brillante más cercana al centro del marco es en realidad un par de estrellas tipo B en un sistema binario, que son las estrellas más masivas del clúster. Los vientos de estas estrellas pueden ayudar a esculpir el gran bucle visto en el lado derecho del campo de visión.
créditos
Imagen
nasa, ESA, CSA, STSCI, Kevin Luhman (PSU), Catarina Alves de Oliveira (ESA)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | IC 348 |
| Object Description | Star-forming region |
| R.A. Position | 03:44:34.28 |
| Dec. Position | +32:09:43.10 |
| Constellation | Perseus |
| Distance | About 1,000 lightyears |
| Dimensions | This image is about 1.9 arcminutes across (.6 lightyears) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created with Webb data from proposal: (C. Alves de Oliveira). Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) |
| Instrument | NIRCam |
| Exposure Dates | 28 August 2022 |
| Filters | F277W, F360M, 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: Blue: F277W, Green: F360M, Red: F444W |
| 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. |
