MIRI is the Mid-Infrared Instrument aboard JWST. This false color MIRI image of NGC 346 traces emission from cool gas and dust. Silicates and sooty chemical molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons show up in blue. The more diffuse red emission are from warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars in the heart of the region.This image includes 7.7-micron light shown in blue, 10 microns in cyan, 11.3 microns in green, 15 microns in yellow, and 21 microns in red.

Image Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / N. Habel (JPL).
Image Processing: P. Kavanagh (Maynooth University).