peculiar.galexy.astro
Butterfly Nebula- NGC 6302
NGC 6302, also known as the Butterfly Nebula for its iconic shape, is an absolutely stunning nebulae. It is about 2500 to 3800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. This star is actually in our own galaxy and is a type of planetary nebula known as a bipolar planetary nebula. This is due to the two lobes on either side of the star (obscured in the center).
When an average sized star, like our own Sun, evolves it first expands into a red giant star. When it has exhausted its fuel and thermonuclear fusion can no longer occur, it sheds its outer layers as a planetary nebula and shrinks into a white dwarf star. This is exactly what has happened to this star! The red giant star is still ejecting this material and has not quite become a white dwarf yet. We are getting to see this amazing process take place.
The gas being ejected from this star is incredibly hot and has been heated to over 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This gas is moving at 600,000 miles an hour into space! But the star itself is even hotter, at 400,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it one of the hottest stars in our galaxy! It has been ejecting its gas for about 2200 years.
This is a second process of the Butterfly Nebula with a layer for luminosity added. This allows the structure to become much more defined. The first image can be viewed here!
This image was taken on July 27, 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope. It was an image created using three greyscale images assigned to the RGB channels in Photoshop CC. A luminosity layer was also used. The images used were:
RED: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f658n_sci
GREEN: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f656n_sci
BLUE: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f502n_sci
HALPHA LUM: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f656n_sci
Resources:
The reference image used to help guide creation of this image can be viewed here!
These images are associated with HST proposal 11504: WFC3 ERO: Planetary Nebula
This image was processed by myself, Alexandra Nachman, on 12/19/20, using data from the Hubble Legacy Archive. Image taken by NASA/ESA/Hubble Space Telescope.
Butterfly Nebula- NGC 6302
NGC 6302, also known as the Butterfly Nebula for its iconic shape, is an absolutely stunning nebulae. It is about 2500 to 3800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. This star is actually in our own galaxy and is a type of planetary nebula known as a bipolar planetary nebula. This is due to the two lobes on either side of the star (obscured in the center).
When an average sized star, like our own Sun, evolves it first expands into a red giant star. When it has exhausted its fuel and thermonuclear fusion can no longer occur, it sheds its outer layers as a planetary nebula and shrinks into a white dwarf star. This is exactly what has happened to this star! The red giant star is still ejecting this material and has not quite become a white dwarf yet. We are getting to see this amazing process take place.
The gas being ejected from this star is incredibly hot and has been heated to over 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This gas is moving at 600,000 miles an hour into space! But the star itself is even hotter, at 400,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it one of the hottest stars in our galaxy! It has been ejecting its gas for about 2200 years.
This is a second process of the Butterfly Nebula with a layer for luminosity added. This allows the structure to become much more defined. The first image can be viewed here!
This image was taken on July 27, 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope. It was an image created using three greyscale images assigned to the RGB channels in Photoshop CC. A luminosity layer was also used. The images used were:
RED: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f658n_sci
GREEN: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f656n_sci
BLUE: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f502n_sci
HALPHA LUM: hst_11504_01_wfc3_uvis_f656n_sci
Resources:
The reference image used to help guide creation of this image can be viewed here!
These images are associated with HST proposal 11504: WFC3 ERO: Planetary Nebula
This image was processed by myself, Alexandra Nachman, on 12/19/20, using data from the Hubble Legacy Archive. Image taken by NASA/ESA/Hubble Space Telescope.