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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Star Cluster IC 348 from Webb
NASA ^ | 15 Jan, 2024 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and K. Luhman (Penn State U.) and C. Alves de Oliveira (ESA)

Posted on 01/15/2024 1:20:44 PM PST by MtnClimber

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.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 01/15/2024 1:20:44 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 01/15/2024 1:21:04 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; Agatsu77; America_Right; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔


3 posted on 01/15/2024 1:21:45 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: MtnClimber

Looks like an Angel. :)


4 posted on 01/15/2024 1:35:54 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: MtnClimber
Apparently the brown dwarfs (or dwarves in proper Tolkien elocution) aren't easy to see.


5 posted on 01/15/2024 1:36:15 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder

Niburu! They found Niburu!!


6 posted on 01/15/2024 1:47:02 PM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Seruzawa

Quick, hide your gold.


7 posted on 01/15/2024 1:48:14 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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