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Astronomers use the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) to observe young stars in infrared light, which can pass through some dusty material that blocks visible light. They also study infrared light emitted by the dust itself. Comparing Webb’s near-infrared and mid-infrared views helps reveal both embedded stars and the clouds, disks, and outflows around them—but the densest regions can still hide what is inside.
Why infrared helps reveal young stars
Dust grains absorb and scatter light. A cloud around a forming star can therefore dim or conceal the star’s visible glow. Infrared light is less obstructed by some dusty material than visible light, so Webb can detect sources and structures that may be hidden in visible-light images. NASA’s star lifecycle explainer describes how material between an observer and a star can obstruct the view.
This is a wavelength effect, not a way to make a cloud transparent. Infrared observations can reveal embedded sources through parts of a cloud, while especially dense material may remain opaque. Sometimes the dust is not just an obstacle: after it is heated, it emits infrared light that Webb can observe.
What NIRCam and MIRI each reveal
Webb’s instruments capture different infrared wavelengths, so the same star-forming region can look different in each view. In NASA’s Pillars of Creation comparison, stars stand out in the NIRCam view, while MIRI brings the dust into prominence.
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| View | What tends to stand out | What it helps astronomers study |
|---|---|---|
| NIRCam, near infrared | Stars and embedded sources | Where young stars are forming, including sources obscured in visible light |
| MIRI, mid infrared | Infrared-emitting dust and surrounding material | The structure and emission of dusty regions around young stars |
Putting the views side by side provides more context than either alone: one can make stars easier to pick out, while the other traces dusty surroundings. A composite image assigns colors to measurements made in different infrared bands; those colors are a visualization choice, not the literal colors a person would see.
What Webb reveals in star-forming regions
The Pillars of Creation: stars among dense clouds
The Pillars of Creation images show why astronomers compare instruments. NIRCam emphasizes newly formed stars, and MIRI displays more of the dust. Yet even here, NASA notes that the densest parts of the pillars can still obscure activity. A dark patch may mark obscuring material rather than empty space.
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L1527: a protostar, disk, and outflows
In the molecular cloud L1527, Webb’s views show a protostar surrounded by material from which it is growing. NASA describes the protostar as about 100,000 years old and its thin accretion disk as seen edge-on. The NIRCam and MIRI observations reveal different features of the cloud and outflows along the protostar’s rotation axis. The example shows that the goal is not only a clearer image of a star: astronomers also map the material and activity involved in its formation. See NASA’s L1527 image and explanation.
The Cosmic Cliffs: jets that dust had hidden
In the Cosmic Cliffs region of NGC 3324, Webb observations exposed dozens of young-star jets and outflows that had been hidden by dust. Studying these features helps researchers investigate how radiation from nearby massive stars may affect star and planet formation. Megan Reiter, the study lead and an astronomer at Rice University, described the observation as “a snapshot in time to see just how much star formation is going on in what may be a more typical corner of the universe that we haven’t been able to see before.” NASA reports the results in its Cosmic Cliffs announcement.
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The Tarantula Nebula: young stars behind dust
Webb’s NIRCam image of the Tarantula Nebula revealed tens of thousands of young stars previously shrouded by dust, according to NASA’s image description. This is an example of infrared observations bringing embedded stars into view—not proof that every star behind a cloud can be seen.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Webb cannot see through
- Not every cloud becomes transparent. Dense regions can still block infrared light, as NASA notes in its Pillars of Creation description.
- A dark area is not necessarily empty. It may contain dense dust that obscures the activity behind it.
- Webb does not directly show a protostar’s interior. It observes light from sources and material around them, including infrared emission from dust.
The careful description is that Webb reveals sources through some dusty material and maps dust through its infrared emission. How much is visible depends on the material and wavelength; these examples do not establish a universal limit for how deeply infrared light can penetrate a cloud.
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