PR Video noirlab2530a
Pan on the Butterfly Nebula
PR Video noirlab2530b
Zooming into the Butterfly Nebula
To celebrate 25 years since the completion of the International Gemini Observatory, students in Chile voted for the Gemini South telescope to image NGC 6302 — a billowing planetary nebula that resembles a cosmic butterfly. The International Gemini Observatory is partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by NSF NOIRLab.
The glowing ‘wings’ of the Butterfly Nebula appear to be bursting out of the interstellar medium in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, located on Cerro Pachón in Chile. This picturesque object was chosen as a target for the 8.1-meter telescope by students in Chile as part of the Gemini First Light Anniversary Image Contest. The contest engaged students in the host locations of the Gemini telescopes to celebrate the legacy that the International Gemini Observatory has built since its completion, marked by Gemini South’s First Light in November 2000.
NGC 6302 is a bipolar planetary nebula that lies between 2500 and 3800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. Sources report various dates of discovery, but credit typically goes to a 1907 study by American astronomer Edward E. Barnard, though Scottish astronomer James Dunlop may have discovered it in 1826. Its official name is NGC 6302, but it is also referred to as the Butterfly Nebula, Bug Nebula, or Caldwell 69.
A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of a massive star near the end of its life that is expelling material, surrounded by an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas. Typically, these mesmerizing structures have a planet-like round shape, which is why they were named ‘planetary nebulae’ by the early astronomers who observed them through their telescopes.
You may notice, though, that the Butterfly Nebula does not resemble a round planet, but instead a winged creature caught mid-flight. The formation of this unique structure is driven by a star at the nebula’s center that is casting off layers of gas and dust as it nears the end of its life.
In 2009, the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) identified the central star as a white dwarf — the dense remnant of a Sun-like star — that expelled its outer layers over 2000 years ago and is now around two-thirds the mass of our Sun. It is one of the hottest stars known, with a surface temperature in excess of 250,000 degrees Celsius (450,000 degrees Fahrenheit), implying the star from which it formed must have been very large.Sun-like star
Studies of NGC 6302 have revealed a dramatic formation history.
Before becoming a white dwarf, the star was a red giant with a diameter
about 1000 times that of the Sun. The massive star shed its outer layers
of gas, which traveled outward from the equator at a relatively slow
speed to form the dark, doughnut-shaped band still visible around the
star. Other gas was expelled perpendicular to the band, which restricted
the outflows and created the bipolar structure seen today.
As the star continued evolving, it unleashed a powerful gust of
stellar wind that tore through the ‘wings’ at more than three million
kilometers per hour (1.8 million miles per hour). Interactions between
slow- and fast-moving gas further texturized the ‘wings’ into expansive landscapes of cloudy ridges and pillars.
Now, as a white dwarf, the star is emitting intense radiation that is
heating the ‘wings’ of NGC 6302 to more than 20,000 degrees Celsius
(around 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and causing the gas to glow. The rich
red in the image traces areas of energized hydrogen gas, while the
stark blue traces areas of energized oxygen gas. This material, in
addition to the other elements scientists have found in NGC 6302, such
as nitrogen, sulfur, and iron, will go on to help form the next
generation of stars and planets.
This image was taken as part of the NOIRLab Legacy Imaging Program — a continuation of the program started at the International Gemini
Observatory in 2002, called the Gemini Legacy Imaging Program. It aims
to use observing time on NOIRLab telescopes that is dedicated to
acquiring data specifically for color images to share with the public.
More information
The scientific community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on I’oligam Du’ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai‘i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence of I’oligam Du’ag to the Tohono O’odham Nation, and Maunakea to the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) community.
Links
- Explore NGC 6302 in more detail
- Read about the formation of the International Gemini Observatory in Part I of NOIRLab’s Gemini Anniversary Blog series
- Read about the International Gemini Observatory’s global partnership in Part II of NOIRLab’s Gemini Anniversary Blog series
- Photos of the Gemini South telescope
- Videos of the Gemini South telescope
- Check out other NOIRLab Photo Releases
Contacts:
Josie Fenske
Public Information Office
NSF NOIRLab
Email: josie.fenske@noirlab.edu
