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Flame Nebula: Hubble and Webb Observations

A collage of three near-infrared images showing a dusty nebula. The left two-thirds of the collage is taken up by a Hubble image of the nebula. The remaining third is taken up by two Webb images, one atop the other. The Hubble image has a pillar of dense brown dust running through the nebula at a diagonal from 5 o’clock to 11 o’clock. Wispy plumes appear to fly off from the pillar toward the sides amid blue clouds of the same material, which are whiter near the pillar. There are many white stars spread throughout. Two separate, white squares, tilted about 30 degrees, outline two areas in the pillar. The upper square has the letter “A” to the top right, while the lower square is marked by the letter “B”. These labels correspond to the two, magnified images of the nebula at right, with the top image also labeled “A” and the bottom image labeled “B”. Both images contain a mixture of reds, blues and browns, and show red, blue, and white stars.

This collage of images from the Flame Nebula shows a near-infrared light view from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on the left, while the two insets at the right show the near-infrared view taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Much of the dark, dense gas and dust, as well as the surrounding white clouds within the Hubble image, have been cleared in the Webb images, giving us a view into a more translucent cloud pierced by the infrared-producing objects within that are young stars and brown dwarfs. Astronomers used Webb to take a census of the lowest-mass objects within this star-forming region.

The Hubble image on the left represents light at wavelengths of 1.05 microns (filter F105W) as blue, 1.3 microns (F130N) as green, and 1.39 microns (F139M) as red. The two Webb images on the right represent light at wavelengths of 1.15 microns and 1.4 microns (filters F115W and F140M) as blue, 1.82 microns (F182M) as green, 3.6 microns (F360M) as orange, and 4.3 microns (F430M) as red.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    05:41:41.76
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -01:54:33.30
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Orion
  • Distance
    DistanceThe 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.
    About 1,400 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Hubble image is 7.2 arcmin across (about 3 light-years) Webb inset is 2 arcmin across (about 0.8 light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: 15334 (N. Da Rio) and Webb data from proposal: 1190 (M. Meyer). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST> WFC3/IR WEBB> NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    HST> 27 October 2018 - 24 April 2020 WEBB> 01 March 2023
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    HST> F105W, F130N, F139M WEBB> F115W, F140M, F182M, F360M, F430M
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Flame Nebula, NGC 2024
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Star-forming region with LMO's
  • Release Date
    March 10, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Peers Deeper into Mysterious Flame Nebula
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Michael Meyer (University of Michigan), Matthew De Furio (UT Austin), Massimo Robberto (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Print), 6106 × 4344
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  • Hubble Image Only Full Res (For Print), 3934 × 4344
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  • Hubble Image Only Full Res (For Display), 3934 × 4344
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  • Hubble Image Only, 1812 × 2000
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  • Webb Image ‘A’ Only Unannotated Full-Res (For Print), 4086 × 4047
    tif (47.34 MB)
  • Webb Image ‘A’ Only Unannotated Full-Res (For Display), 4086 × 4047
    png (17.43 MB)
  • Webb Image ‘A’ Only Unannotated, 2000 × 1981
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  • Webb Image ‘B’ Only Unannotated Full-Res (For Print), 4090 × 4060
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  • Webb Image ‘B’ Only Unannotated Full-Res (For Display), 4090 × 4060
    png (15.61 MB)
  • Webb Image ‘B’ Only Unannotated, 2000 × 1985
    png (3.8 MB)
A collage of three near-infrared images showing a dusty nebula. The left two-thirds of the collage is taken up by a Hubble image of the nebula. The remaining third is taken up by two Webb images, one atop the other. The Hubble image has a pillar of dense brown dust running through the nebula at a diagonal from 5 o’clock to 11 o’clock. Wispy plumes appear to fly off from the pillar toward the sides amid blue clouds of the same material, which are whiter near the pillar. There are many white stars spread throughout. Two separate, white squares, tilted about 30 degrees, outline two areas in the pillar. The upper square has the letter “A” to the top right, while the lower square is marked by the letter “B”. These labels correspond to the two, magnified images of the nebula at right, with the top image also labeled “A” and the bottom image labeled “B”. Both images contain a mixture of reds, blues and browns, and show red, blue, and white stars.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument and the Hubble Space Telescope using the UVIS/IR 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:    Left (Hubble)> Blue= F105W, Green= F130N, Red= F139M Right (Webb)> Blue= F115W + F140M, Green= F182M, Orange= F360M, Red= F430M

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

A collage of four images showing a dusty nebula. Two-thirds of the collage is taken up by a single image of the nebula, while the remaining third shows three insets stacked on top of each other. In the largest image at left, there is an orange and yellow fang-like cloud of matter that cuts the image in two. The left side of the fang shows more clouds of a dark brown shade, while the right shows filaments of light brown. There are a number of bright blue and red points of light spread throughout, three of which are circled in white and labeled with a number from one to three. Circle 1 is located at about 12 o’clock in the middle of the fang-like cloud, while Circle 2 is at about 5 o’clock and Circle 3 is located at about 7 o’clock, toward the bottom left of the image. Each circle magnifies an individual object, which is shown in each of the three squares to the right of the collage, labeled 1 to 3 from top to bottom. Each image contains a single, fuzzy point of light in the middle.

Low Mass Objects within the Flame Nebula (NIRCam Image)

This near-infrared image of a portion of the Flame Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights three low-mass objects, seen in the insets to the right. These objects, which are much colder than protostars, require the sensitivity of Webb’s instruments to detect...

A collage of three images showing a dusty nebula. The left two-thirds of the collage is taken up by an image of the nebula in visible light, which shows a diagonal pillar of brown dust. Two separate, white squares outline two areas of the pillar. The remaining third is taken up by the other two images, one atop the other, magnifications of the boxed regions, in near-infrared. Both images contain a mixture of reds, blues and browns. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 11 o’clock direction. The east arrow points toward 8 o’clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 0.2 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one-fifth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F115W and F140M are blue; F182M is green; F360M is orange; and F430M is red.

Flame Nebula: Hubble and Webb Observations (Compass Image)

Two images of the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) at right, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. These images are magnified regions within the greater Flame Nebula, seen in the image at left captured by the Hubble...

A star-forming nebula. There is an orange and yellow fang-like cloud of matter that juts out from the left side. Below the fang, there are more clouds of a dark brown shade with a few red and blue stars shining brightly within and revealing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern. Above the fang, the clouds of dust and gas are brighter, appearing light brown. The rightmost side of the image appears to be composed of thick, blue clouds of dust and gas. There are three red and blue points of light that are highlighted by white circles. One of these is located at about 9 o’clock, in the middle of the fang-like cloud, near the left. Another is located at about 2 o’clock, slightly to the top right of the fang-like cloud. The last is located at about 5 o’clock, close to the bottom right. More red, blue, and white stars of different sizes are spread throughout.

Flame Nebula (Hubble and Webb Comparison)

This video alternates between a Hubble Space Telescope and a James Webb Space Telescope observation of the Flame Nebula, a nearby star-forming nebula less than 1 million years old. In this comparison, three low-mass objects are highlighted. In Hubble’s observation, the low-mass...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Michael Meyer (University of Michigan), Matthew De Furio (UT Austin), Massimo Robberto (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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