Webb opens a window on IC 348, where the smallest brown dwarfs are taking shape
IC 348
A star-forming region about 1,000 light-years from Earth.
brown dwarf
An object born like a star, but not hot enough to fuse hydrogen.
NIRCam
Webb’s near-infrared camera for capturing faint warm objects.
What happened
A new image from NASA, ESA, and CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows IC 348, a nearby region where stars are forming. IC 348 lies about 1,000 light-years away, in the constellation Perseus. The picture is filled with glowing gas, dust, and stars. ESA/Webb released it on Sept. 15, 2026. Space.com featured it the next day.
This is more than a beautiful space picture. The observing program uses Webb to search for the smallest brown dwarfs. These objects form in the same collapsing clouds as stars. They help scientists study where star formation may stop and planet formation may begin.
A stellar nursery
Cold molecular hydrogen gas gathers and collapses inside regions such as IC 348. That process creates new stars. Webb’s image shows this active environment in remarkable detail. It also shows why young objects can be difficult to study. Dust and gas surround them while they are still forming.
The objects between stars and planets
Brown dwarfs are often described as objects between stars and planets. They form like stars, but their centers never become hot enough to fuse hydrogen. The smallest stars can sustain that reaction. Brown dwarfs cannot. They are less massive than the smallest stars, yet some can be more massive than the largest planets.
That makes them useful for testing ideas about how cosmic objects grow. Scientists still do not know the smallest mass that can result from the star-forming process.
How Webb searched
Researchers first studied IC 348 with Webb in 2022. They found brown dwarfs with masses three or four times Jupiter’s mass. The team then went deeper. Webb’s NIRCam captured the warm glow of young stars and brown dwarfs in 2024. In 2025, its NIRSpec instrument examined their light more closely.
The observations revealed brown dwarfs with masses as low as twice Jupiter’s mass. That is about 0.19 percent of the Sun’s mass. They are the least massive brown dwarfs known. One of the lightest objects also showed signs of a disk. That suggests planets could be forming around it, though no planet has been confirmed there.
Why it matters
The result challenges current models of star formation. Those models must explain how such lightweight objects can form from collapsing clouds. The finding also gives scientists a closer look at the boundary between stars and planets. A better model could explain why some clouds produce stars, while others produce smaller objects.
What comes next
Researchers still need to learn how small brown dwarfs can become. They also want to compare these objects across different star-forming regions. Webb’s spectra showed a hydrocarbon feature in some of the lowest-mass brown dwarfs. Scientists are still studying what that feature means.
So the new image is not a final answer. It is a detailed starting point for studying how stars, brown dwarfs, and planets begin. Sources: ESA/Webb, Space.com
Webb finds tiny objects in a star-making cloud
📰 Full story: Webb opens a window on IC 348, where the smallest brown dwarfs are taking shape
A space telescope studied a colorful cloud where stars are being born.
IC 348
A space region where new stars are forming.
brown dwarf
An object born like a star but not hot enough to become one.
infrared
A kind of light that human eyes cannot see.
💡 The gist
- IC 348 is a place where new stars are forming.
- The James Webb Space Telescope scanned it for brown dwarfs.
- Some brown dwarfs weigh about twice as much as Jupiter.
IC 348 is about 1,000 light-years from Earth. It sits in the constellation Perseus. Gas, dust, and young stars fill this region.
The James Webb Space Telescope, or Webb, can study faint infrared light. That helps scientists see young objects. Dust often surrounds these objects while they grow.
Stars begin inside cold clouds of hydrogen gas. The gas slowly gathers and collapses. The center becomes hotter. A normal star forms when its center becomes hot enough to fuse hydrogen.
Brown dwarfs form from similar clouds. However, their centers never become hot enough. They cannot keep the same hydrogen reaction going. They are smaller than stars. Some are still heavier than the biggest planets.
Scientists first studied IC 348 with Webb in 2022. They found brown dwarfs weighing three or four times Jupiter’s mass. The team searched deeper afterward. NIRCam photographed warm light in 2024. NIRSpec studied the light’s details in 2025.
The new observations found brown dwarfs as light as twice Jupiter’s mass. That equals about 0.19 percent of the Sun’s mass. They are the lightest brown dwarfs known so far.
One small brown dwarf showed signs of a disk. A disk is a flat ring of material. Planets might be forming there. Scientists have not confirmed those planets yet.
This finding matters because it tests star-formation models. Scientists want to know how clouds create such small objects. They also want to learn how brown dwarfs differ across star-forming regions.
A space cloud hides objects that almost became stars
📰 Full story: Webb opens a window on IC 348, where the smallest brown dwarfs are taking shape
Webb looked at a cloud where baby stars are growing.
brown dwarf
A small space object that is not hot enough to become a normal star.
Jupiter
A very large planet in our solar system.
James Webb Space Telescope
A large camera that looks at space.
The James Webb Space Telescope is a big camera in space. It looked at IC 348.
IC 348 is a cloud where stars are born. Gas and dust gather there. Some small objects are called brown dwarfs.
Brown dwarfs are born like stars. But they never get hot enough. So they do not become normal stars.
Some weigh about twice as much as Jupiter. Jupiter is a giant planet in our solar system.
Webb can see special light from space. That helps it find faint, small objects. The picture helps scientists learn how stars begin.
Sources: ESA/Webb