NGC 604 (MIRI image)

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how large clouds of cooler gas and dust glow at mid-infrared wavelengths. This region is a hotbed of star formation and home to more than 200 of the hottest, most massive kinds of stars, all in the early stages of their lives.

In the MIRI view of NGC 604, there are noticeably fewer stars than Webb’s NIRCam image. This is because hot stars emit much less light at these wavelengths. Some of the stars seen in this image are red supergiants — stars that are cool but very large, hundreds of times the diameter of our Sun. The blue tendrils of material signify the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

[Image description: At the centre of the image is a nebula on the black background of space. The nebula is composed of wispy filaments of light blue clouds. At the centre-right of the blue clouds is a large cavernous bubble. The bottom left edge of this cavernous bubble is filled with hues of pink and white gas. Hundreds of dim stars fill the area surrounding the nebula.]