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.

Kredit:

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

O snímku

Id:eso-6302
Typ:Pozorování
Datum zveřejnění:3. prosince 2009 23:19
Velikost:1200 x 1117 px

O objektu

Jméno:NGC 6302
Typ:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Vzdálenost:4000 světelné roky
Constellation:Scorpius
Kategorie:Nebulae

Image Formats

největší JPEG
283,1 KB

Pozadí

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

Souřadnice

Position (RA):17 13 44.27
Position (Dec):-37° 6' 16.25"
Field of view:6.22 x 5.79 arcminutes
Orientace:Sever je 45.1° levá od svislé osy

Barvy & filtry

PásmoVlnová délkaDalekohled
Optický
B
451 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Optický
V
539 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Optický
R
651 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC