Sneezes and wheezes of the Butterfly

New imagery shows the nebula puffing 'like a fire-breathing dragon'

- Prof Chris Lintott

A series of spectacular images shed new light on the behaviour of NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula. Sitting in Scorpius, this object has long been a favourite of both amateur and professional astrophotographers, but the Hubble images presented in this month's paper, covering more than a decade of observations, are the most detailed and interesting yet. 

Like all planetary nebulae, the large wings of the Butterfly Nebula are formed from gas expelled from the object's central star, typically a Sun-like star which is entering the last stages of its life. The brightness and dynamism of this particular nebula, in which changes in the gas can be seen in images taken just a year or two apart, suggest that it has a particularly hot and massive central source.