IC 348

IC 348 is a star-forming region in the constellation Perseus located about 1,000 light years from the Sun. Together with NGC 1333 it is part of the Perseus molecular cloud. It consists of nebulosity and an associated 2-million-year-old cluster of roughly 400 stars within an angular diameter of 20″. A later work found an older age of about 5 Million years. The most massive stars in the cluster are the binary star system HD 281159 (BD+31°643), which has a combined spectral class of B5, and is surrounded by an accretion disk. This binary is surrounded by an incomplete spherical shell open to the northwest, 50,000 AU in diameter, seen in infrared images of Spitzer and JWST.

Based upon infrared observations using the Spitzer Space Telescope, about half of the stars in the cluster have a circumstellar disk, of which 60% are thick or primordial disks. One team observed 136 class II sources with ALMA, detecting 40 sources. The team found disk masses similar to disks in Chamaeleon I and the Sigma Orionis Cluster. 20 disks (about 5%) are massive enough to form giant planets. The 96 non-detected disks have dust masses below around 0.4 M_E and might be capable to form small rocky planets.

IC 348 shows a rich molecular chemistry. It contains common molecules such as hydrogen molecules, hydroxyl, water, carbon dioxide and ammonia. Additionally it contains several carbonaceous molecules, including complex molecules such as PAHs and fullerenes. In 2023, the emission spectrum of tryptophan was claimed to be discovered in the interstellar gas of the star cluster IC 348. A re-analysis of the Spitzer data did not find any tryptophan. Later observations with JWST and an improved laboratory spectrum showed that IC 348 does not contain any tryptophan. The team showed that the lines were due to instrumental artifacts.