Gemini South Unveils Sharper Butterfly Nebula Image for 25th Anniversary

Overview

• The International Gemini Observatory’s Chilean telescope published a new high-resolution view of NGC 6302 as part of its 25-year milestone program.
• NGC 6302, known as the Butterfly Nebula, lies in Scorpius at an estimated 2,500 to 3,800 light-years from Earth.
• Large-aperture optics, advanced adaptive optics and combined multi-filter exposures produced a clearer portrait across visible and infrared wavelengths.
• The image resolves narrow gas jets, shock regions and temperature and density contrasts, improving analyses of the nebula’s internal gas dynamics.
• The nebula represents a late stage of stellar evolution in which a dying star sheds its outer layers, leaving a hot white dwarf core, and the project also involved Chilean students in image selection.