Sep 15, 2013 · M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from the disk creating the bipolar appearance.
Aug 26, 2015 · It is also known as Minkowski 2-9 (M2-9), Minkowski’s Butterfly or the Wings of a Butterfly Nebula. The nebula lies at a distance of 2,100 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 14.7. It was named after Rudolph Minkowski, the German-American astronomer who discovered it in 1947.
Dec 18, 2000 · M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto .
Oct 08, 2014 · M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from the disk creating the bipolar appearance.
Rudolph MinkowskiMinkowski 2-9, abbreviated M2-9 (also known as Minkowski's Butterfly, Twin Jet Nebula, the Wings of a Butterfly Nebula, or just Butterfly Nebula) is a planetary nebula that was discovered by Rudolph Minkowski in 1947. It is located about 2,100 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.
astronomer William HerschelOur middle-aged Sun can expect a similar fate once it runs out of fuel in about 5 billion years. Nebulae like Caldwell 69 are known as planetary nebulae but are not related to planets. The term was coined by astronomer William Herschel, who discovered the Butterfly Nebula in 1826.Dec 18, 2019
The characteristic shape of the wings of the Twin Jet Nebula is most likely caused by the motion of the two central stars around each other. It is believed that a white dwarf orbits its partner star and thus the ejected gas from the dying star is pulled into two lobes rather than expanding as a uniform sphere.Aug 27, 2015
constellation of ScorpiusThe Butterfly Nebula is one of the brightest and more extreme examples of a pinched-waist, bipolar planetary nebula. Also known as NGC 6302, it is located 2,417 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius.Jan 20, 2021
NGC catalog, in full A New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, being the Catalogue of the Late Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart., revised, corrected, and enlarged, basic reference list of star clusters, nebulas, and galaxies.Feb 9, 2022
24 minutesIts "wings" are made of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit and there is a dying star at its center. "The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour -- fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes," NASA's Web site says.Sep 10, 2009
When a star like our Sun dies, it doesn't explode into a supernova or collapse into a black hole. Instead, it gently sheds its outer layers, which form a beautiful cloud called a “planetary nebula”, while the dying star's core becomes a white dwarf.
A planetary nebula (PN, plural PNe), is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets.
Bipolar planetary nebulae are formed when the central object is not a single star, but a binary system, Studies have shown that the nebula's size increases with time, and measurements of this rate of increase suggest that the stellar outburst that formed the lobes occurred just 1200 years ago.Mar 19, 2020
Twin jets of ionized gas jut out from both ends. At the center, the hellishly hot leftover remnant of a former star. Despite its stunning visual appeal, the Butterfly Nebula is a death trap for all life.
The "butterfly" is actually a planetary space nebula, which is named its resemblance to the Earth insect. The nebula is a giant cloud of gas that forms around an ancient star that hasn't yet exploded, reports CNN.Aug 3, 2020
Although you can't see because of the gas and clouds, there is a star at the centre and that is estimated at being 400,000 Fahrenheit. You would not be able to get anywhere near it. The stellar wings are about 36,000 Fahrenheit which is hot compared to other planetary nebulae. N.A.S.A.Mar 21, 2022
The Twin Jet Nebula is sometimes called simply the Butterfly Nebula, but should not be confused with NGC 6302, a bipolar planetary nebula in Scorpius, ...
The stars complete an orbit around each other every 100 years or so and the rotation allows the white dwarf to keep accumulating gas from the companion. M2-9 is a striking example of a “butterfly” or a bipolar planetary nebula. Another more revealing name might be the “Twin Jet Nebula.”. If the nebula is sliced across the star, ...
Another more revealing name might be the “Twin Jet Nebula.”. If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side of it appears much like a pair of exhausts from jet engines. Indeed, because of the nebula’s shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic ...
The nebula’s appearance, with two jets discharged by the star creating the shape of the lobes, has earned it the name Twin Jet Nebula. The huge jets of gas are moving at speeds of more than 1 million km/h.
Based on the rate of expansion of the wings, the nebula is estimated to be about 1,200 years old. In August 2015, observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope revealed ...
The Twin Jet Nebula is a bipolar planetary nebula located in the constellation Ophiuchus. It is also known as Minkowski 2-9 (M2-9), Minkowski’s Butterfly or the Wings of a Butterfly Nebula. The nebula lies at a distance of 2,100 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 14.7. It was named after Rudolph Minkowski, ...
Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt. The shape of the nebula’s wings is believed to be caused by the movement of the central two stars. The gas expelled by the dying star creates two lobes of material instead of expanding into a sphere.
NOTE: All times listed are Central Time (CT), unless otherwise stated.
Looking through his newly improved spyglass, Galileo observes 3 new stars previously unseen near Jupiter. Here is his observation from January 7, 1610:
On Oct. 9, Juno flew by Earth using the home planet's gravity to get a boost needed to reach Jupiter. The JunoCam caught this image of Earth, and other instruments were tested to ensure they work as designed during a close planetary encounter. The Juno spacecraft was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 5, 2011.
This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic.
The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform, and shows patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light.
Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Actually, stars usually create their most artistic displays as they die. In the case of low-mass stars like our Sun and M2-9 pictured above, the stars transform themselves from normal stars to white dwarfs by casting off their outer gaseous envelopes.
The special shape of the wings and scales gives butterflies their characteristic lofty flight patterns and surprising aerial maneuverability. Butterfly wings also act as a kind of heat sink which the insects uses to catch light and warm its body.
Another function of butterfly wings is to trap heat and insulate the insect. The tiny scales on the wings absorb heat from the light, which regulates the insect’s body temperature. Even a tiny difference in scale thickness can drastically effect how well they absorb heat.
Butterflies can use their wings to blend into the background foliage to avoid predators, and the bright colors of wings can disorient or signal that the insect is unpalatable.
Butterfly wings are composed mainly of thin layers of a protein called chitin, the same protein in the exoskeletons and hard shells of insects and arthropods. Each of the two wings is divided into two parts, the upper forewing and the lower hindwing. On both sides of the wings are overlapping layers ...
In this sense, butterfly scales can be seen as analogous to mammalian hair. Butterfly wing scales also aid in survival. The scales are designed to come off easily, so if the butterfly gets tangled up with a predator, they can slip away. Wing scales drastically reduce the amount of butterfly deaths from spider webs.
Greens, blue, and reds are often not created by pigments, but by the scattering of light by the microscopic structure of the scale itself. The tiny scales have microscopic ridges that scatter incoming light, creating the shiny colors and iridescence associated with butterfly wings.
The concentration of the pigments is responsible for the oranges, browns, and blacks, and whites seen in butter fly wings. Greens, blue, and reds are often not created by pigments, but by the scattering of light by the microscopic structure of the scale itself. ...
What makes the butterfly’s wing remarkable? Consider: Rows of tiny concave surfaces on the wings of a green swallowtail butterfly ( Papilio blumei) reflect light in various ways. For example, the center of each concavity reflects yellow-green light, while the edges reflect blue light. Also, light at the center of a concave surface is reflected ...
The final mix is called structural color because of the complex way in which it is produced. It took ten years for researchers to produce a simplified replica of the butterfly’s wing surface. Such technology, they hope, will lead to bank notes and credit cards that are harder to forge and solar cells that are more efficient at collecting energy ...
Also, light at the center of a concave surface is reflected directly, but light striking the sides first bounces through a surface of multiple layers, which amplifies and partially polarizes, or rotates, the light waves.
The characteristic shape of the wings of the Twin Jet Nebula is most likely caused by the motion of the two central stars around each other. It is believed that a white dwarf orbits its partner star and thus the ejected gas from the dying star is pulled into two lobes rather than expanding as a uniform sphere.
The PN, meanwhile, refers to the fact that M2-9 is a planetary nebula. The glowing and expanding shells of gas clearly visible in this image represent the final stages of life for an old star of low to intermediate mass.
The two stars at the heart of the nebula circle one another roughly every 100 years.
Bipolar planetary nebulae are formed when the central object is not a single star, but a binary system. Studies have shown that the nebula’s size increases with time, and measurements of this rate of increase suggest that the stellar outburst that formed the lobes occurred just 1200 years ago.
Although these may seem subtle in comparison to the nebula’s rainbow colours, these are actually violent twin jets streaming out into space, at speeds in excess of one million kilometres per hour.
The cosmic butterfly pictured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image goes by many names. It is called the Twin Jet Nebula and Minkowski’s Butterfly, as well as answering to the slightly less poetic name of PN M2-9.
It lies 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.