                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                 2019 March 2
                                      [2]
                        NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula
    Image Credit: NASA [3] , ESA [4] , Hubble [5] , HLA [6] ; Reprocessing &
                          Copyright: Robert Eder [7]

Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are
often named for flowers [8]  or insects [9] . Though its wingspan covers over
3 light-years, NGC 6302 [10]  is no exception. With an estimated surface
temperature of about 250,000 degrees C [11] , the dying central star of this
particular planetary nebula [12] has become exceptionally hot, shining
brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of
dust. This sharp close-up was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope [13]  in
2009. The Hubble image data is reprocessed here, showing off the remarkable
details of the complex planetary nebula. Cutting across a bright cavity of
ionized gas, the dust torus [14] surrounding the central star is near the
center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen
[15] has been detected [16]  in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302
[17] lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct
constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius [18] ).

                      Tomorrow's picture: orion's bullets

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
< [19] | Archive [20] | Submissions [21] | Index [22] | Search [23] | Calendar
  [24] | RSS [25] | Education [26] | About APOD [27] | Discuss [28] | > [29]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [30] (MTU [31] ) & Jerry Bonnell [32]
                                  (UMCP [33] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [34] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [35]
              A service of: ASD [36]  at NASA [37]  / GSFC [38]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [39]
----------
Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1903/NGC6302_ButterflyNebula_NASA.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov
  [4] http://www.esa.int/
  [5] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/ index.html
  [6] https://hla.stsci.edu/
  [7] https://artis-mastering.at/
  [8] ap160506.html
  [9] ap100425.html
  [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6302
  [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius
  [12] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/
planetary_nebula.html
  [13] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html
  [14] http://www.math.tamu.edu/~tkiffe/calc3/revolution3/ revolution3.html
  [15] ap161024.html
  [16] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005hris.conf..423M
  [17] https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.4359
  [18] http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/sco/index.html
  [19] ap190301.html
  [20] archivepix.html
  [21] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [22] lib/aptree.html
  [23] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [24] calendar/allyears.html
  [25] /apod.rss
  [26] lib/edlinks.html
  [27] lib/about_apod.html
  [28] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190302
  [29] ap190303.html
  [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [32] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [33] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [34] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [35] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [36] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [37] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [38] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [39] http://www.mtu.edu/
