Cosmic butterfly

The Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, is one of the brightest and most extreme planetary nebulae known. It is located about 4,000 light-years away, towards the Scorpius constellation (the Scorpion). The nebula is the swansong of a dying solar-like star lying at its centre. At about 250,000 degrees Celsius and smothered in a blanket of hailstones, the star itself has never been observed as it is surrounded by a dense disc of gas and dust, opaque to light. This dense disc may be the origin of the hourglass structure of the nebula.

This colour image, which nicely highlights the complex structure of the nebula, is a composite of three exposures through blue, green and red filters. It was made using the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, Chile.

Bildnachweis:

ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, A. Hornstrup and J.-E. Ovaldsen

Über das Bild

ID:eso-6302
Typ:Beobachtung
Veröffentlichungsdatum:3. Dezember 2009 23:19
Größe:1200 x 1117 px

Über das Objekt

Name:NGC 6302
Typ:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Entfernung:4000 Lichtjahre
Constellation:Scorpius
Kategorie:Nebulae

Bildformate

Großes JPEG
283,1 KB

Bildschirm-Hintergrundbilder

1024x768
195,6 KB
1280x1024
278,6 KB
1600x1200
359,2 KB
1920x1200
393,7 KB
2048x1536
503,3 KB

Koordinaten

Position (RA):17 13 44.27
Position (Dec):-37° 6' 16.25"
Field of view:6.22 x 5.79 arcminutes
Orientierung:Die Nordrichtung liegt 45.1° links zur Vertikale

Farben & Filter

SpektralbereichWellenlängeTeleskop
Optisch
B
451 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Optisch
V
539 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Optisch
R
651 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC