The Butterfly
Nebula from Hubble
From
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
The
bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects. Though its wingspan
covers over 3 light-years, NGC
6302 is no exception.
With
an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the dying central
star of this particular planetary
nebula has become exceptionally hot, shining brightly in ultraviolet
light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust.
This sharp
close-up of the dying star's nebula was recorded in 2009 by the Hubble
Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and is presented here in reprocessed
colors.
Cutting
across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding
the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the
line-of-sight.
Molecular
hydrogen has been
detected in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies
about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct
constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).
