ESPLORAZIONE SPAZIALE

Webb svela con nuovi scatti il “cuore di una farfalla cosmica”

Il telescopio spaziale di Nasa, Esa e Csa ha rivelato nuovi dettagli sul nucleo della Butterfly Nebula, Ngc 6302. Dal denso e polveroso toro che circonda la stella nascosta al centro della nebulosa ai suoi getti in uscita, le osservazioni di Webb rivelano tante nuove scoperte

Pubblicato il 29 ago 2025

Paolo Marelli

Butterfly Nebula NGC 6302 (Hubble and Webb + ALMA images, side b — This image set showcases three views of the Butterfly Nebula, also called NGC 6302. The Butterfly Nebula, located about 3400 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, is one of the best-studied planetary nebulae in our galaxy. Planetary nebulae are among the most beautiful and most elusive creatures in the cosmic zoo. These nebulae form when stars with masses between about 0.8 and 8 times the mass of the Sun shed most of their mass at the end of their lives. The planetary nebula phase is fleeting, lasting only about 20 000 years. The Butterfly Nebula is a bipolar nebula, meaning that it has two lobes that spread in opposite directions, forming the ‘wings’ of the butterfly. A dark band of dusty gas poses as the butterfly’s ‘body’. This band is actually a doughnut-shaped torus that’s being viewed from the side, hiding the nebula’s central star — the ancient core of a Sun-like star that energises the nebula and causes it to glow. The dusty doughnut may be responsible for the nebula’s insectoid shape by preventing gas from flowing outward from the star equally in all directions. The first and second of the three images shown here highlight the bipolar nature of the Butterfly Nebula in optical and near-infrared light captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The new Webb image on the right zooms in on the centre of the Butterfly Nebula and its dusty torus, providing an unprecedented view of its complex structure. The Webb data are supplemented with data from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array, a powerful network of radio dishes. While the nebula’s central star is blanketed with thick, dusty gas at optical wavelengths, Webb’s infrared capabilities reveal the central star and show the doughnut-shaped torus and interconnected bubbles of dusty gas that surround it. [Image description: Three views of the same nebula, presented side by side. The left and middle images, which are labeled ‘Hubble Optical’ and ‘Hubble Nea

La Butterfly Nebula, situata a circa 3.400 anni luce di distanza nella costellazione dello Scorpione, è una delle nebulose planetarie più studiate della nostra galassia. Questa splendida nebulosa era stata precedentemente fotografata dal telescopio spaziale Hubble della Nasa ed Esa. Ora, Webb ha catturato una nuova immagine di questa nebulosa.

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