2025年6月6日
NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby
Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth’s night sky are often given the names of flowers or insects, and its whopping 3 light-year wingspan, NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of the planetary nebula is transforming into a white dwarf star, becoming exceptionally hot, and shining brightly in ultraviolet light. The central star is hidden from direct view by a torus of dust, but its energetic ultraviolet light ionizes atoms in the nebula. In this sharp, telescopic view composed with narrowband image data, the ionized hydrogen and doubly ionized oxygen atoms are shown in their characteristic red and blue-green hues to reveal a stunning complex of knots and filaments within the nebula’s wing-like bipolar outflows. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).
Tomorrow’s picture: perseverance with ingenuity
NGC 6302: 蝴蝶星云
影像提供与版权: Mike Selby
说明: 地球夜空中的明亮星团和星云，经常以花和昆虫来命名，而翼展宽达3光年以上的蝴蝶星云NGC 6302，正是其中的范例之一。在这团行星状星云内，即将蜕变成白矮星的濒死中心星，表面温度是极端炽热的摄氏250,000度，因此发出了非常明亮的紫外辐射。这颗中心星，受到浓密环状尘埃云遮掩而不得见，然而它发出的高能紫外光，不断的在电离星云里的原子。在这幅组合自窄波段滤镜数据的清晰望远镜影像里，电离氢及双电离氧原子的辐射，分别以特征性的红及绿色加以呈现，以突显此星云翼状双极外泛流内的复杂纠结和云气丝。离我们约有4,000光年远的NGC 6302，很贴切的位在以节肢动物为名的天蝎座之内。
明日的图片: perseverance with ingenuity
