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“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” –Rabindranath Tagore
When stars like the Sun reach the end of their lives, they all follow fairly predictable patterns:
Image credit: Robert Gendler, Jan-Erik Ovaldsen, Allan Hornstrup, IDA, via http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/NGC6302.html.
But one of the most beautiful dying stars in this fashion, the Butterfly Nebula, is quite uncommon when it comes to the elements found inside, and the history of this object. With a central star at over 200,000 K, it has one of the hottest objects in the Universe inside of it! How did it get this way?
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team; Reprocessing & Copyright: Francesco Antonucci.
Find out on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!