One of the few nebulas that actually reasonably looks like its nickname. Located in Scorpius, the Butterfly Nebula (two of its other many nicknames include the Bug Nebula and Bipolar Nebula) is a bipolar planetary emission nebula with a white dwarf star sitting smack in the middle of the whole thing. In fact, the temperature of the white dwarf star has been recorded at 250,000 Celcius, one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in a star! It is also part of the sharpless designation of space objects. Not a whole lot to say about this object, but the photo(s) of it are absolutely gorgeous and nothing short of breathtaking.
Last updated October 26th, 2025