The Butterfly Nebula

NGC 6302 also known as The Butterfly Nebula

is a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. The structure in the nebula is among the most complex ever observed in planetary nebulae.

This sharp and colorful close-up of the dying star's nebula was recorded in 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, installed during the final shuttle servicing mission. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line of sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud.

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble

ISRO Plans to Build Reusable Rockets

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has finally revealed their plans to build reusable rockets and heavy lift launchers for the next decade. “In line with global directions, we require to develop heavy lift launch vehicle, semi-cryogenic stage, reusable launch vehicle, advance propulsion, next generation avionics, advance materials, dynamic space applications and efficient integration of space based services as well as advanced space science missions,” says ISRO. At the same time, ambitious projects like the Gaganyaan Mission, Chandrayaan-3, The Aditya-L1 solar mission and a first Indian Data Relay Satellite mission are already in progress. A first, uncrewed flight for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight project is planned for late 2021. It was announced late last year that the first crewed launch had been delayed from December 2021 to no earlier than 2022, ostensibly due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. India conducted just two launches in 20...

NASA Shares List of Targets for James Webb Telescope’s First Images

Below is the list of cosmic objects that Webb targeted for these first observations, which will be released in NASA’s live broadcast beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 12. 🌟Carina Nebula. The Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form. The Carina Nebula is home to many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun. 🌟WASP-96 b (spectrum). WASP-96 b is a giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The planet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014. 🌟Southern Ring Nebula. The Southern Ring, or “Eight-Burst” nebula, is a planetary nebula – an expanding cloud of gas, surrounding a dying star. It is nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located approximately 2,000 light yea...

How will the Sun die ? | Death of a Star | Space Library

The sun has been shining for approximately 4.6 billion years, but like all stars, it will eventually come to an end. Although the sun's demise is not imminent, its death is a natural part of the life cycle of stars, and scientists have been studying it for decades. iStock When the sun runs out of fuel, it will begin to cool and contract. The sun's outer layers will expand, causing it to become a red giant. During this phase, the sun will grow to be much larger than its current size, swallowing up the inner planets, including Earth. This event is predicted to occur in about 5 billion years from now, based on current estimates. Eventually, the sun will run out of fuel completely, and it will collapse in on itself. This will cause a massive explosion, known as a supernova, which will release a vast amount of energy into the universe. The sun's core will be compressed to form a white dwarf, a small, extremely dense star that will slowly cool over bill...

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