September 15, 2025
Webb telescope finds clues to Earth鈥檚 creation in a cosmic butterfly
This image set shows three views of the Butterfly Nebula, also called NGC 6302. The first and second images highlight the bipolar nature of the Butterfly Nebula in optical and near-infrared light captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The new Webb image on the right zooms in on the center of the nebula and its dusty torus. The Webb data are supplemented with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, a powerful network of radio dishes.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Matsuura, J. Kastner, K. Noll, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), N. Hirano, J. Kastner, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed new details in the core of the Butterfly Nebula, known to astronomers as NGC 6302. From the dense ring of dust that surrounds the nebula鈥檚 core to the tiny but bright star hidden within, the Webb observations paint a never-before-seen portrait of the nebula鈥檚 inner workings. The new imagery also helps scientists understand the origins of comic dust.
鈥淢ost of the material in rocks, gems, bones 鈥� really the Earth itself 鈥� arrived here as a cloud of tiny cosmic dust particles. Rocky planets are made of this stuff,鈥� said , a 91爆料 professor emeritus of astronomy and a member of the research team. 鈥淭he Butterfly Nebula is one of the nearest prolific sources of fresh cosmic dust, so it鈥檚 a great place to study how dust forms and disperses.鈥�
The results in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The Webb telescope team on its mission website.
Planetary nebulae form when stars with masses between about 0.8 and eight times that of the sun shed most of their mass at the end of their lives, generating huge outbursts of gas and dust. The Butterfly Nebula, located about 3,400 light-years away in the constellation, is one of the best-studied planetary nebulae in our galaxy and was. It belongs to a class of bipolar nebulae, meaning that it has two lobes of dust and gas that spread out in opposite directions from the central star, forming the 鈥渨ings鈥� of the butterfly. The torus-shaped cloud of dust and gas poses as the butterfly鈥檚 鈥渂ody鈥� and obscures the star that created it.
This annotated image teases out the structures at the heart of the Butterfly Nebula. The James Webb Space Telescope鈥檚 MIRI instrument revealed many previously hidden aspects of the nebula.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Matsuura, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), N. Hirano, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
The new Webb imagery zooms in on the center of the Butterfly Nebula and its dusty ring. The telescope鈥檚 uniquely powerful Mid-InfraRed Instrument, or , analyzed the chemical makeup of the dust and also peered through it, revealing the hidden star at the core. This Earth-sized star is tiny but over 1,000 times brighter than the sun, and at 222,000 Kelvin is one of the hottest known central stars in any planetary nebula.
Webb鈥檚 observations also revealed familiar materials in this exotic locale. The new data show that the dust ring is composed partly of crystalline silicates like quartz, which are common in rocks here on Earth. The team also spotted a class of organic molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which turn up in campfire smoke and burnt toast. This may be the first-ever evidence of PAHs forming in a planetary nebula, providing important clues to these molecules鈥� origin.
For researchers like Balick, getting a good look at both the central star and the dust it produced is key.
鈥淏illions of long-gone stars, once similar to the newly discovered star that produced the Butterfly, created important raw materials like carbon-based organic molecules and silicates that condensed to make the Earth鈥檚 first surface,鈥� Balick said. 鈥淭he Butterfly enables us to look into the very start of this process.鈥�
An image of the Butterfly Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope at near-infrared wavelengths.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Kastner, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
Contrary to the name, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets: The naming confusion began several hundred years ago, when astronomers reported that the first nebulae they found appeared round, like planets. The name stuck, even though many planetary nebulae aren鈥檛 round at all 鈥� the Butterfly Nebula itself is a prime example of the unusual and mysterious shapes that they can take.
鈥淲hen I saw the new images, I realized there鈥檚 still a lot to learn about the formation and shaping of planetary nebulae 鈥� more than we ever anticipated,鈥� Balick said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 how science works. You peel the onion one layer at a time.鈥�
A full list of co-authors is included with the .听
This research was funded by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), who funded the James Webb Space Telescope and its scientific instruments, as well as individual research grants from the teams鈥� home countries.
For more information, contact Balick at balick@uw.edu.
This story was adapted from by NASA and ESA. See from the Royal Astronomical Society.
