Reflection nebula NGC 1333 in Perseus
October 2025 - Picture of the Month
This month we have the reflection nebula NGC 1333, of which there are many images, but there aren't so many that show the cluster of faint stars that are forming within it. NGC 1333 is a part of the Perseus molecular cloud, nearly 5½ degrees to the west of ζ Persei, and around 960 light-years from us.
This field is the of the relative uninteresting lower section of this Hubble image of the nebula which displays a knot of emission nebulosity surrounded by little else. However the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was designed to exploit infrared wavelengths with great resolution, revealing features in this southern section of the nebula that you'd never guess were present based on the optical view.
The reflection nebula that can be seen by visual observers is beyond the upper-left corner, as indicated by the blue in this area of the image. The orange features are infrared emission caused by ionised material ejected by forming stars deep within the dust cloud. A couple of the brightest stars in this image are completely obscured in the Digitized Sky Survey and, as the JWST team point out, some of the faintest stars here are actually brown dwarfs or even planetary mass objects.
Above all, it's a spectacular image of a region that's beyond visual observation and the reach of earth-bound imagers too. It's fascinating to examine with ESASky online in Explorer mode.
James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.
