The Butterfly Nebula is a type of object known as a planetary nebula. It's 'wings' are formed from cosmic gas that's being expelled by a dying star of similar mass to our Sun.
This material is ejected at regular intervals by the star, as can be seen in Hubble images of the Butterfly Nebula.
As delicate as the Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302, may look, its wings are churning and burning at 250,000˚C as it splits itself apart on an extremely short timescale.
NGC 6302, 3,800 lightyears away in Scorpius, was formerly a huge red giant, 1,000 times the diameter of the Sun.
Now in its dying phase, it is spewing out gas and dust as it rapidly casts off its outer layers.
The fate of the Butterfly Nebula may be similar to the fate of our own Sun. Find out what will happen when our Sun dies.
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Observatory Hubble Space Telescope
Release date 18 June 2020
Image credit NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)
