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Protoplanetary Disks in NGC 346 (NIRCam Image)

Twisted pink and orange filaments lie against a black background speckled with white and pink stars. Ten, small, yellow circles overlaid at various points across the image indicate the positions of the ten stars surveyed in this study.

This is a James Webb Space Telescope image of NGC 346, a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is one of the Milky Way's nearest neighbors. With its relative lack of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, the NGC 346 cluster serves as a nearby proxy for studying stellar environments with similar conditions in the early, distant universe. Ten, small, yellow circles overlaid on the image indicate the positions of the ten stars surveyed in this study.

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 3.9 arcminutes across (240 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.
    NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    16 June 2022, 26 June 2022, 10 Oct 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F200W; F277W; F335M; F444W
  • 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
    December 16, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Finds Planet-Forming Disks Lived Longer in Early Universe
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Olivia Jones (UK ATC), Guido De Marchi (ESTEC), Margaret Meixner (USRA)

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Twisted pink and orange filaments lie against a black background speckled with white and pink stars. Ten, small, yellow circles overlaid at various points across the image indicate the positions of the ten stars surveyed in this study.
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. 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:   Red: F444W, Orange: F335M, Cyan: F277W, Blue: F200W

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

Graph showing the brightness of 2.02- to 2.37-micron light captured by Webb’s NIRSpec Microshutter Array.

Protoplanetary Disks in NGC 346 Spectra (NIRSpec)

This graph shows, on the bottom left in yellow, a spectrum of one of the 10 target stars in this study (as well as accompanying light from the immediate background environment). Spectral fingerprints of hot atomic helium, cold molecular hydrogen, and hot atomic hydrogen are...

A side-by-side comparison of a Hubble image of the massive star cluster NGC 346 (left) versus a Webb image of the same cluster (right). The Hubble image shows the cluster in shades of blue against a black background punctuated by white stars of various sizes. Ethereal nebulosity, looking much like draped chiffon, dominates the image. The Webb view, in shades of pink and orange against a black background, is speckled with fewer stars than in the Hubble version. These stars are white and pink. Webb pierces through the cluster’s clouds to reveal more of its structure, which looks like twisted fibers.

NGC 346: Hubble and Webb Observations

This side-by-side comparison shows a Hubble image of the massive star cluster NGC 346 (left) versus a Webb image of the same cluster (right). While the Hubble image shows more nebulosity, the Webb image pierces through those clouds to reveal more of the cluster's structure. NGC...

In orange, capital letters across the top are the words JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE. Below in larger, white capitals are the words SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD. A thin, vertical line separates them from the label NGC 346 in smaller type. A gray, horizontal line separates the words from the image below. Orange and pink arcs at the image center form a boat-like shape. One end of these arcs points to the top right, while the other points to the bottom left. Another orange and pink plume expands from the center to the top left. To the right of it is a cluster of white stars. Other stars and a few galaxies appear throughout. At the bottom left, arrows labeled north and east show the orientation of the image on the sky. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 50 light-years, 15 parsecs, 50 arcseconds. Its length is about one-fifth the width of the image. A color key shows the NIRCam filters used and which color is assigned to each. From left to right: F200W is blue; F277W is green; F335M is orange; and F444W is red.

Protoplanetary Disks in NGC 346 (NIRCam Compass Image)

This image of the star cluster NGC 346, captured by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), 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...

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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, Olivia Jones (UK ATC), Guido De Marchi (ESTEC), Margaret Meixner (USRA)

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