Webb’s infrared view of the star-forming region IC 348 is more than a striking portrait: researchers used its sensitive data to identify candidate brown dwarfs, then used spectra to confirm some as substellar members of the young cluster. The faintest newly classified objects are estimated to have about twice Jupiter’s mass. They are not ordinary stars—and the full-color image alone is not how scientists established what they are.
What are brown dwarfs, and what does “never ignite” mean?
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects: unlike stars, they do not sustain ordinary hydrogen fusion in their cores. “Never ignite” is a shorthand for that distinction, not a claim that they are dark or cold. They emit heat and light, including infrared radiation that Webb can detect. IC 348 is a star-forming region and open cluster in Perseus, about 1,000 light-years from Earth. The study’s abstract describes the objects as substellar; NASA’s image record places the region in Perseus.
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What does Webb’s IC 348 image show?
NASA identifies the image as a James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) composite observed on August 30, 2024, and released September 15, 2026. The full image measures 30,866 by 38,204 pixels—about 1.18 billion pixels by multiplication, or roughly 1.2 billion, rather than 1.8 billion. NASA assigns blue to F162M and F182M data, green to F360M, and red to F444W; these are display colors mapped to infrared observations, not a literal view in human-visible light. See the ESA/Webb image record and NASA’s annotated image page.
The field includes more than the central cluster. NASA’s annotations identify embedded stars, a reflection nebula, outflows and Herbig-Haro features, a gravitationally lensed pair, and distant background galaxies. Herbig-Haro objects are bright shock regions created when winds or jets from young protostars strike surrounding gas and dust. Background galaxies are far beyond IC 348, so not every point of light belongs to the cluster.
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How did researchers identify the smallest objects?
The image is a search field, not a visual checklist. Researchers used the sensitivity of NIRCam data to select faint brown dwarf candidates, then obtained spectra for a subset to assess their nature. A point that appears in the image is not confirmed as a brown dwarf simply because it is faint or red.
| Evidence stage | What the study reports | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate selection in NIRCam images | 39 candidates | Objects selected for follow-up; not all are confirmed brown dwarfs. |
| Spectroscopic follow-up | Spectra obtained for 15 | These candidates received additional examination; this number is not the confirmed-member count. |
| Classification | Nine classified as substellar members of IC 348 | The study identifies these as newly classified cluster members. |
Those counts come from Luhman and Alves de Oliveira’s paper abstract, submitted to arXiv on June 10, 2025. The abstract reports the candidate, spectrum, and member counts separately.
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How light are the faintest new members?
The faintest newly classified members have estimated masses around two Jupiter masses, according to the study. Masses here are estimates, not direct weighings. At that scale, the objects challenge models of the minimum masses that star formation can produce. They remain classified as substellar objects, not ordinary stars; the result does not make them planets.
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What do the disks around two objects tell us?
Two newly classified members—one estimated at about two Jupiter masses and another at about 10—show excess emission attributed to circumstellar disks. Such disks are evidence that disk material can persist around very low-mass young objects. The paper describes the disks as raw material for planet formation; their detection does not establish that planets have formed. The masses and disk findings are reported in the study abstract.
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Can you spot the brown dwarfs in the image?
Not reliably in a normal-sized view. The candidates are exceptionally faint, and identification depended on sensitive infrared measurements and, for a subset, follow-up spectra. Nautilus’s October 2, 2026 report notes that they are not readily visible without the full-resolution image and a trained eye. Even at full resolution, visual appearance alone cannot reproduce the study’s classification process.
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