Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2025 June 6 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Mike Selby Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often given the names of [5]flowers or [6]insects, and its whopping 3 light-year wingspan, [7]NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees [8]C, the central star of the [9]planetary nebula is transforming into a white dwarf star, becoming exceptionally hot, and shining brightly in ultraviolet light. The central star is hidden from direct view by a torus of dust, but its energetic ultraviolet light ionizes atoms in the nebula. [10]In this sharp, telescopic view composed with narrowband image data, the ionized hydrogen and doubly ionized oxygen atoms are shown in their characteristic red and blue-green hues to reveal a stunning complex of [11]knots and filaments within the nebula's wing-like bipolar outflows. [12]NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion ([13]Scorpius). Tomorrow's picture: perseverance with ingenuity __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC, [34]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2506/NGC-6302-LRGB-Ha-OIII.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://throughlightandtime.com/about/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160506.html 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100425.html 7. https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/planetary-nebula-ngc-6302/ 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius 9. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2021/pne/animations.html 10. https://throughlightandtime.com/ngc-6302-lrgb-ha-oii-rev-3-crop-cdk-1000-1-june-2025/ 11. https://esahubble.org/news/heic0407/ 12. https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.4359 13. http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/sco/index.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250605.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250606 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250607.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/