Tuesday, August 02, 2022

The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble


This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope depicts NGC 6302, commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula. NGC 6302 lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The glowing gas was once the star's outer layers, but has been expelled over about 2,200 years. The butterfly shape stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.

New observations of the object have found unprecedented levels of complexity and rapid changes in the jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the star at the center of the nebula.


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and J. Kastner (RIT)

Release Date: June 18, 2020


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