IC 348 taken on October 27th and 28th 2014 is a star forming region in the constellation Perseus located about 315 parsecs from the Sun. It consists of nebulosity and an associated 2 million year old cluster of roughly 400 stars within an angular diameter of 20″. The most massive stars in the cluster are the binary star system BD+31°643, which has a combined spectral class of B5. 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. The age of this cluster has allowed three low mass brown dwarfs to be discovered. These objects lose heat as they age, so they are more readily discovered while they are still young.

Note

IC 1985 = IC 348. Barnard did not check the first IC before he published this as a new nebula at the end of his paper on the "Exterior Nebulosities of the Pleiades." Dreyer apparently did not, either, so the object now has two IC numbers.