NASA’s Webb Captures an Ethereal View of NGC 346 (MIRI)
Grim grinning ghosts 👻
Webb’s getting into the Halloween spirit early. The telescope captured this spectral view of star-forming region NGC 346 in mid-infrared light. The blue tendrils represent silicates and sooty chemical molecules, while the red glow represents warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars at the heart of the region. This area is also abundant with baby stars still embedded in their dusty cocoons.
NGC 346 is part of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It has a composition much closer to that of galaxies from the early universe and possesses fewer heavy elements. Accordingly, scientists did not expect much cosmic dust, which is formed by heavy elements. However, both Webb’s new mid-infrared look at NGC 346 and its past near-infrared view (released Jan. 2023) show plenty of dust! Learn more: go.nasa.gov/3tykabJ
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Nolan Habel (NASA-JPL). Image Processing: Patrick Kavanagh (Maynooth University)
[Image description: The lower half of this image contains arcs of bluish material that form a boat-like shape. One end of these arcs points to the top right of the image, while the other end points toward the bottom left. Another plume of blue filaments expands from the center to the top left, resembling the mast of a sailboat. Within and extending beyond the boat shape are translucent curtains of pink, which appear atop the boat shape as well and cover most of the image. Stars are noticeably scarce. A couple dozen bright pink patches with six short diffraction spikes are scattered within the blue filaments. Many faint blue dots, or stars, also speckle the background, which is black or dark gray.]
NASA’s Webb Captures an Ethereal View of NGC 346 (MIRI)
Grim grinning ghosts 👻
Webb’s getting into the Halloween spirit early. The telescope captured this spectral view of star-forming region NGC 346 in mid-infrared light. The blue tendrils represent silicates and sooty chemical molecules, while the red glow represents warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars at the heart of the region. This area is also abundant with baby stars still embedded in their dusty cocoons.
NGC 346 is part of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It has a composition much closer to that of galaxies from the early universe and possesses fewer heavy elements. Accordingly, scientists did not expect much cosmic dust, which is formed by heavy elements. However, both Webb’s new mid-infrared look at NGC 346 and its past near-infrared view (released Jan. 2023) show plenty of dust! Learn more: go.nasa.gov/3tykabJ
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Nolan Habel (NASA-JPL). Image Processing: Patrick Kavanagh (Maynooth University)
[Image description: The lower half of this image contains arcs of bluish material that form a boat-like shape. One end of these arcs points to the top right of the image, while the other end points toward the bottom left. Another plume of blue filaments expands from the center to the top left, resembling the mast of a sailboat. Within and extending beyond the boat shape are translucent curtains of pink, which appear atop the boat shape as well and cover most of the image. Stars are noticeably scarce. A couple dozen bright pink patches with six short diffraction spikes are scattered within the blue filaments. Many faint blue dots, or stars, also speckle the background, which is black or dark gray.]