Hubble Telescope Clicks Rare Butterfly-Jewel Bug Nebulae Exploding In Space
Nebula NGC 6303 is also called Butterfly Nebula due to its wing-like appearance.
Our universe is as beautiful as it is scary. From beautiful stars that shine light in the pitch dark space to planets that make us feel hopeful of other lives that exist along with us, it never stops to mesmerise and engulf us in existential thoughts.
NASA
And now, NASA¡¯s Hubble Space Telescope has managed to capture breathtaking images of two nebulas after they commence to spit gas and dust in space, signalling the death of the star.
The images show two young nebulae in the full spectrum emitting ultraviolet and infrared light and resulting in a show that¡¯s truly beautiful to look at.
Hubble telescope nebulae pic
Nebula NGC 6303 is also called Butterfly Nebula due to its wing-like appearance, whereas NGC 7027 resembles a metallic-shelled bug and hence the name the Jewel Bug.
The detailed images captured by Hubble Space Telescope helps astronomers to better understand the formation of nebulae and their unique shapes.
It is no news that stars during most of their life stay subtle, shining. However, as they near the end of their life, they turn hyperactive into crazy whirligigs releasing jets of gas.
Researchers have discovered never before seen levels of complexity and instantaneous changes in jets and gas bubbles blasting off the stars at the core of each nebula. Researchers claim that studying these images captured will help them understand the mechanisms that are behind this.
NASA Hubble space telescope
This isn¡¯t the first time The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of nebulae in the galaxy, however, this time it used its ¡®Wide Field Camera 3¡¯ instrument, that too across its full rage to make observations in near-ultraviolet to near-infrared light.
NASA
The images show in excruciating detail how both the nebulae are splitting themselves apart on extremely short timescales. According to researchers, this is allowing them to see changes in the cloud of dust and gas over the past couple of decades.
Joel Kastner, study lead from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York said in a statement, ¡°As I was downloading the resulting images, I felt like a kid in a candy store. The Jewel Bug nebula shows emission at an incredibly large number of different wavelengths, each of which highlights not only a specific chemical element in the nebula but also the significant, ongoing changes in its structure¡±.
He added, ¡°These new multi-wavelength Hubble observations provide the most comprehensive view to date of both of these spectacular nebulae.¡±
