5K reactions · 41 comments | Heaven’s Last Exhale: The Butterfly...

Along came a spider… 🕷️ The Red Spider Nebula (NGC 6537) is a planetary nebula, a structure which forms when red giants shed their outer layers into space, exposing their white-hot cores. This phase lasts only a few tens of thousands of years. The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s new view of the Red Spider Nebula reveals for the first time the full extent of the nebula’s outstretched lobes, which form the ‘legs’ of the spider – and which each extend about 3 light-years! #WebbSeesFarthe

Zooming into The Buttefly Nebula This video zooms into the planetary nebula NGC 6302, commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula. NGC 6302 lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The glowing gas was once the star's outer layers, but has been expelled over about 2,200 years. The butterfly shape stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Credit: European Space A