A Close-up of The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

A Close-up of The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

The Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302, is one of the brightest and most extreme planetary nebulae known. The fiery, dying star at its center is shrouded by a blanket of icy hailstones. This NASA Hubble Wide Field Plantery Camera 2 image shows impressive walls of compressed gas, laced with trailing strands and bubbling outflows.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency and A.Zijlstra (UMIST, Manchester, UK)

Release Date: May 3, 2004

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