Overview
- NOIRLab released the Gemini South portrait of NGC 6302 through the NOIRLab Legacy Imaging Program.
- NGC 6302 is a bipolar planetary nebula located roughly 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.
- The image maps energized hydrogen in red and oxygen in blue, showing gas heated above 20,000 °C by the central star.
- The nebula’s structure arose after a Sun-like star shed its outer layers about 2,000 years ago and later winds near 3 million km/h shaped its wing-like lobes.
- The view complements Hubble results, including the 2009 identification of the central object as an extremely hot white dwarf exceeding 250,000 °C.