                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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

                       NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

   Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night
   sky are often given the names of flowers or insects, and its whopping 3
   light-year wingspan, NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated
   surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of the
   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. 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
   knots and filaments within the nebula's wing-like bipolar outflows. NGC
   6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct
   constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).

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