A color rendition of NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula, created from black-and-white direct exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2019 and 2020. In the violet-colored areas, strong outstanding winds are actively improving the nebular wings over the previous 900 years. The other features vary in age from 1200 to 2300 years. Credit: Bruce Balick/University of Washington/Joel Kastner/Paula Baez Moraga/Rochester Institute of Technology/Space Telescope Science Institute
Planetary nebulae are formed when red giant stars reach the end of their helium fuel supply and eject their external layers, becoming thick and hot white dwarf stars about the size of Earth. The shed product, improved with carbon, produces stunning patterns as it is gradually blown into the interstellar medium.
The majority of planetary nebulae have a circular shape, however some have an hourglass or wing-like look, such as the widely known “Butterfly Nebula.” These shapes are thought to result from the gravitational pull of a second star orbiting the parent star of the nebula, triggering the material to expand into two lobes or “wings.” Like an expanding balloon, the wings grow gradually without changing their initial shape.
When a team led by astronomers at the University of Washington compared two exposures of the Butterfly Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and 2020, they saw dramatic modifications in the material within the wings. As they will report on Jan. 12 at the 241st conference of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, effective winds are driving complex changes of product within the nebulas wings.
” The Butterfly Nebula is severe for the mass, speed, and intricacy of its ejections from its central star, whose temperature is more than 200 times hotter than the sun yet is just somewhat bigger than the Earth,” stated group leader Bruce Balick, a UW teacher emeritus of astronomy. “Ive been comparing Hubble images for several years and Ive never ever seen anything rather like it.”
Structural changes within the Butterfly Nebula between 2009 and 2020. Various functions have moved from the black areas into the white ones during the 11-year period. The image reveals the surprisingly intricate growth patterns caused by multiple ejections from the nebulas unseen main star in the previous two centuries. Credit: Lars Borchert and Bruce Balick/University of Washington
The group compared top quality Hubble images taken 11 years apart to chart the speeds and growth patterns of functions within the nebulas wings. The bulk of the analysis was carried out by Lars Borchert, a graduate trainee at Aarhus University in Denmark who got involved in this study as a UW undergraduate trainee.
Borchert discovered roughly half a lots “jets”– starting about 2,300 years ago and ending 900 years ago– pushing product out in a series of unbalanced outflows. Product in the outer parts of the nebula is moving quickly, at about 500 miles per 2nd, while material more detailed to the concealed central star is broadening much more gradually, at about a tenth of that speed. Paths of the jets cross one another, forming “unpleasant” structures and growth patterns within the wings.
The nebulas multi-polar and promptly altering interior structure is not simple to explain using existing models of how planetary nebulae develop and form, according to Balick. The star at the center of the nebula, which is concealed by dust and debris, might have merged with a companion star or drew off material from a close-by star, creating intricate electromagnetic fields and creating the jets.
” At this point, these are all just hypotheses,” stated Balick. “What this reveals us is that we dont fully understand the full variety of shaping processes at work when planetary nebulae form. The next action is to image the nebular center utilizing the James Webb Space Telescope, because infrared light from the star can permeate through the dust.”
Stars like our sun will swell into a red giant and type planetary nebulae someday, expelling carbon and other relatively heavy aspects into the interstellar medium to form star systems and worlds in the far future. This brand-new research study, and other “time-lapse” analyses of planetary nebulae, can assist show not simply how the products for the star systems of tomorrow will take shape, however likewise how the structure blocks of our own oasis were produced and gathered billions of years ago.
” Its a creation story that is occurring repeatedly again in our universe,” said Balick. “The shaping processes supply essential insight into the history and impacts of the outstanding activity.”
Recommendation: “The Tempestuous Life of the Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302” by B. Balick, L. Borchert, J. Kastner and A. Frank, 12 January 2023, 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society.Abstract
A color performance of NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula, produced from black-and-white direct exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2019 and 2020. When a team led by astronomers at the University of Washington compared 2 exposures of the Butterfly Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and 2020, they saw dramatic changes in the product within the wings. As they will report on Jan. 12 at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, effective winds are driving intricate changes of product within the nebulas wings. The image exposes the surprisingly complicated development patterns triggered by multiple ejections from the nebulas unseen main star in the previous 2 centuries. Material in the outer parts of the nebula is moving quickly, at about 500 miles per second, while product closer to the hidden main star is expanding much more slowly, at about a tenth of that speed.