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A Butterfly-Shaped “Papillon” Nebula Yields Secrets of Massive Star Birth

A Butterfly-Shaped "Papillon" Nebula Yields Secrets of Massive Star Birth
A Butterfly-Shaped "Papillon" Nebula Yields Secrets of Massive Star Birth
M. Heydari-Malayeri (Paris Observatory) and NASA/ESA

Here is a Hubble telescope view of a turbulent cauldron of star birth called N159, which is taking place 170,000 light-years away in our satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Torrential stellar winds from hot, newborn, massive stars within the nebula sculpt ridges, arcs, and filaments in the vast cloud, which is over 150 light-years across.

A rare type of compact, illuminated "blob" is resolved for the first time to be a butterfly-shaped or "Papillon" (French for "butterfly") Nebula, buried in the center of the maelstrom of glowing gases and dark dust. The unprecedented details of the structure of the Papillon, itself less than 2 light-years in size, are seen in the inset picture.

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Last Updated
Mar 14, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Credits

M. Heydari-Malayeri (Paris Observatory) and NASA/ESA