Papillon Nebula : Secrets of Massive Star Birth

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 shows the Papillon to be less than 2 light-years in size.

This is a Hubble telescope view of a section of the turbulent cauldron of star birth called N159, taking place 170,000 light-years away in our satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is over 150 light-years across.

Image : NASA ESA M. Heydari-Malayeri (Paris Observatory)

Nebulae

Unnamed Nebulae