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NGC 346 (MIRI Image)

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.

This new infrared image of NGC 346 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) traces emission from cool gas and dust. In this image blue represents silicates and sooty chemical molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. More diffuse red emission shines from warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars in the heart of the region. Bright patches and filaments mark areas with abundant numbers of protostars. This image includes 7.7-micron light shown in blue, 10 microns in cyan, 11.3 microns in green, 15 microns in yellow, and 21 microns in red (770W, 1000W, 1130W, 1500W, and 2100W filters, respectively).

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)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Print), 1851 × 1932
    tif (5.98 MB)
  • Full Res (For Display), 1851 × 1932
    png (4.67 MB)
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.
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

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

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).

NGC 346 (MIRI Compass Image)

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...

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
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, Nolan Habel (NASA-JPL)

Image Processing Credit

Patrick Kavanagh (Maynooth University)

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