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NGC 346 (MIRI Compass Image)

An image labeled James Webb Space Telescope, Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 346. At bottom left are compass arrows pointing north (up) and east (left). At bottom right is a scale bar labeled “25 light-years” that extends about one-sixth of the way across the image. At bottom are NIRCam filter labels whose colors match the colors in the image: F770W (blue), F1000W (cyan), F1130W (green), F1500W (yellow), and F2100W (red).

This image of NGC 346, captured by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

The scale bar is labeled in light-years, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes 25 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers. The field of view shown in this image is approximately 200 light-years across.

This image shows invisible mid-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which MIRI filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.

Read the full image caption.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    00:59:04.95
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -72:10:09.15
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Tucana
  • 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.
    200,000 light-years away (61,300 parsecs)
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    This image is about 3.4 arcminutes across (200 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 Webb data from proposal: 1227 (M. Meixner). Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)  

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    10 October 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F770W, F1000W, F1130W, F1500W, F2100W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    NGC 346
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Cluster and Nebulosity in the Small Magellanic Cloud
  • Release Date
    October 10, 2023
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Captures an Ethereal View of NGC 346
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Nolan Habel (NASA-JPL); Image Processing: Patrick Kavanagh (Maynooth University)

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An image labeled James Webb Space Telescope, Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 346. At bottom left are compass arrows pointing north (up) and east (left). At bottom right is a scale bar labeled “25 light-years” that extends about one-sixth of the way across the image. At bottom are NIRCam filter labels whose colors match the colors in the image: F770W (blue), F1000W (cyan), F1130W (green), F1500W (yellow), and F2100W (red).
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 MIRI instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide 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: F2100W, Yellow: F1500W, Green: F1130W, Cyan: F1000W, Blue: F770W

Related Images & Videos

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NGC 346 (MIRI Image)

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The middle of the image is filled with translucent blue gas that is vaguely boat-shaped, with the tips of the boat at lower left and upper right. A cluster of bright stars is in the middle of the thickest gas, while a smaller cluster is above it. Dark streaks of dust outline the keel of the boat. Thousands of additional stars fill the image, with a particular concentration located at the top center. The image is labeled “Hubble ACS.”

NGC 346 Fade

This video compares images of star-forming region NGC 346 taken in visible light with the Hubble Space Telescope’s ACS instrument, near-infrared with the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument, and mid-infrared with Webb’s MIRI instrument. Hubble’s visible-light image is...

Telescope image including distant stars is overlaid with a semi-transparent graphic representing the constellation Hydrus the water snake. To the left is a dwarf galaxy labeled "Small Magellanic Cloud" and to the right a second dwarf galaxy labeled "Large Magellanic Cloud."

NGC 346 Zoom

This zoom-in video shows the relative location of NGC 346 on the sky. It begins with a ground-based photo by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. As it zooms into smaller portions of the sky, it fades into an image from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Vista...

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Details

Last Updated
Nov 17, 2025
Contact
Media

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

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Nolan Habel (NASA-JPL)

Image Processing Credit

Patrick Kavanagh (Maynooth University)

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