Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025

NGC 6302, also known as the Butterfly Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Scorpius, approximately 3,400 light-years from Earth. Its peculiar shape, resembling the open wings of a butterfly, was sculpted by intense stellar winds from its central star, one of the hottest ever observed, with a temperature above 200,000 °C. This star, in the final stage of its life, ejected enormous amounts of gas and dust, creating the symmetrical and colorful structures we see today. It is a fascinating object and one of the most striking examples of the beauty of planetary nebulae.