portion of the star cluster IC 348 (IMAGE)
Caption
This image from the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets. They found three brown dwarfs that are less than eight times the mass of Jupiter, which are circled in the main image and shown in the detailed pullouts at right. The smallest weighs just three to four times Jupiter, challenging theories for star formation.
Credit
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Kevin Luhman/Penn State, Catarina Alves de Oliveira/ESA.
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License
CC BY-NC-ND