The Butterfly Nebula: NGC 6302 in Scorpius | Hubble, Webb & ALMA Views
Planetary nebulae are among the most beautiful and most elusive creatures in the cosmic zoo. These nebulae form when stars with masses between about 0.8 and 8 times the mass of the Sun shed most of their mass at the end of their lives. The planetary nebula phase is fleeting, lasting only about 20 000 years.
The Butterfly Nebula is a bipolar nebula, meaning that it has two lobes that spread in opposite directions, forming the ‘wings’ of the butterfly. A dark band of dusty gas poses as the butterfly’s ‘body’. This band is actually a doughnut-shaped torus that’s being viewed from the side, hiding the nebula’s central star—the ancient core of a Sun-like star that energises the nebula and causes it to glow. The dusty doughnut may be responsible for the nebula’s insectoid shape by preventing gas from flowing outward from the star equally in all directions.
The first and second of the three images shown here highlight the bipolar nature of the Butterfly Nebula in optical and near-infrared light captured by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. The new Webb image on the right zooms in on the center of the Butterfly Nebula and its dusty torus, providing an unprecedented view of its complex structure. The Webb data are supplemented with data from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array, a powerful network of radio dishes.
While the nebula’s central star is blanketed with thick, dusty gas at optical wavelengths, Webb’s infrared capabilities reveal the central star and show the doughnut-shaped torus and interconnected bubbles of dusty gas that surround it.
Image Description: Three views of the same nebula, presented side by side. The left and middle images, labeled ‘Hubble Optical’ and ‘Hubble Near IR’, show the nebula at roughly the same scale. These two images show some similar features, including a dark dust lane that runs through the center of the nebula and two broad clouds that emerge from either side of the dust lane like the outstretched wings of a butterfly. A diamond-shaped region centered on the dust lane is outlined in each of these images. In the optical Hubble image, the nebula appears clumpy and nearly opaque with few background stars showing through the cloudy material. The nebula appears in different shades of cream, yellow and orange with the lightest colors appearing closest to the center. The background of space is black with a handful of stars that are tinged pink. In the near-infrared Hubble image, the nebula appears cream colored and most opaque near the center, then becomes reddish with purple streaks and more translucent out toward the wings of the nebula. There are hundreds of background stars in the image, many are visible through the nebula. The third and final image zooms in on the diamond-shaped region near the center of the other two images. This image is labeled ‘Webb & ALMA, Mid-IR & Sub-mm’. This image shows a bright source at the center that is surrounded by greenish nebulosity and several looping lines in cream, orange and pink. The upper-right and lower-left corners of this image show a purple streak pointing out of the image.
Release Date: Aug. 27, 2025
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