by APOD Robot » Mon Jan 15, 2024 5:08 am
Star Cluster IC 348 from Webb
Explanation: Sometimes, it's the stars that are the hardest to see that are the most interesting.
IC 348 is a young star cluster that illuminates surrounding filamentary dust. The stringy and winding dust appears pink in
this recently released infrared image from the
Webb Space Telescope. In
visible light, this dust reflects mostly blue light, giving
the surrounding material the familiar blue hue of a reflection nebula. Besides bright stars, several cool objects have been located in IC 348, visible because they glow brighter in
infrared light. These objects are hypothesized to be low mass
brown dwarfs.
Evidence for this includes the detection of an
unidentified atmospheric chemical, likely a hydrocarbon, seen previously in the
atmosphere of
Saturn. These objects appear to have masses slightly greater than known planets, only a few times greater than
Jupiter. Together, these indicate that this young
star cluster contains something noteworthy -- young planet-mass
brown dwarfs that float free, not orbiting any other star.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240115.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_240115.jpg[/img] [size=150]Star Cluster IC 348 from Webb[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Sometimes, it's the stars that are the hardest to see that are the most interesting. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_348]IC 348[/url] is a young star cluster that illuminates surrounding filamentary dust. The stringy and winding dust appears pink in [url=https://esawebb.org/images/weic2331a/]this recently released infrared image[/url] from the [url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/]Webb Space Telescope[/url]. In [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight/]visible light[/url], this dust reflects mostly blue light, giving [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230112.html]the surrounding material[/url] the familiar blue hue of a reflection nebula. Besides bright stars, several cool objects have been located in IC 348, visible because they glow brighter in [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves/]infrared light[/url]. These objects are hypothesized to be low mass [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_dwarf]brown dwarfs[/url]. [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024AJ....167...19L/abstract]Evidence for this[/url] includes the detection of an [url=https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/banner-three-pets-atttentive-thinking-600nw-2136132101.jpg]unidentified[/url] atmospheric chemical, likely a hydrocarbon, seen previously in the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110119.html]atmosphere[/url] of [url=https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/]Saturn[/url]. These objects appear to have masses slightly greater than known planets, only a few times greater than [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220828.html]Jupiter[/url]. Together, these indicate that this young [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230707.html]star cluster[/url] contains something noteworthy -- young planet-mass [url=https://webbtelescope.org/contents/articles/what-makes-brown-dwarfs-unique]brown dwarfs[/url] that float free, not orbiting any other star.
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