Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302): Hubble Space Telescope Image
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The artwork we print is faithfully restored from the original source - usually a museum, auction house or private collection.
We never replace, redraw or invent the artist’s work using generative AI.
Restored from the original artwork and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
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Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the UK
Authentic artwork
The artwork we print is faithfully restored from the original source - usually a museum, auction house or private collection.
We never replace, redraw or invent the artist’s work using generative AI.
Restored from the original artwork and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
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NGC 6302 — the Bug Nebula or Butterfly Nebula — spreads its two vast lobes across this Hubble view in incandescent pink,...
Continue readingNGC 6302 — the Bug Nebula or Butterfly Nebula — spreads its two vast lobes across this Hubble view in incandescent pink, orange and white. The apparent delicacy is deceptive: these wing-like forms are streams of gas expelled by a dying star, heated to nearly 20,000 degrees Celsius and travelling at more than 950,000 kilometres per hour. Roughly 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, the nebula extends for more than two light-years.
At its centre, a narrow dark band pinches the luminous structure into a bipolar, hourglass form. This is a thick, doughnut-shaped ring of dust surrounding the central star, constraining its outflow and directing faster material into the elongated lobes. The star itself remains hidden within the ring. Once about five times the mass of the Sun, it has shed its outer layers over approximately 2,200 years and now floods the expelled gas with ultraviolet radiation, making it glow.
The image holds several distinct kinds of detail at once. Diffuse outer clouds dissolve into the black field, while nearer the centre the gas gathers into sharply illuminated folds, narrow filaments and finger-like projections. Warm reddish margins surround cooler-looking blue and green passages, and crisp white fronts trace places where fast-moving gas has overtaken material expelled earlier.
A closer look
The upper-left lobe is comparatively open and diaphanous. Fine strands curl through its faint glow, with brighter pink and white material emerging from softer blue-green haze. Along the lower-left region, several slender projections point back towards the concealed star. Astronomers think such finger-like forms may mark denser blobs of material that have resisted the pressure of the stellar wind.
Across the opposite lobe, the structure becomes more contorted. Twisting ridges and abrupt outlines run towards the lower right, while a bright edge presses against a neighbouring dark region. Particularly striking is the white formation at upper right, whose clean boundary records a shock wave: faster gas colliding with slower material that had already left the star. Throughout the nebula, the white areas correspond to emission from sulphur, while much of the red along the outer edges comes from nitrogen and marks the coolest gas visible in the image.
The central darkness gives the whole formation its visual tension. Light appears to burst away on either side, yet the source remains unseen. Beyond the brightest gas, faint wisps taper towards the margins and small, sharp points of light punctuate the deep background, emphasising the extraordinary breadth of the two-lobed structure.
How this image was made
Hubble observed NGC 6302 on 27 July 2009 using Wide Field Camera 3, which had been installed by NASA astronauts only two months earlier during Servicing Mission 4. The camera recorded ultraviolet and visible light through filters isolating emissions from oxygen, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur. These observations were combined to create the finished composite, allowing differences in the nebula’s temperature, density and composition to become legible through colour and structure.
The observation also reveals successive episodes in the star’s decline. Relatively slow-moving material first accumulated around its equator to form the obscuring dust ring. Faster gas escaped perpendicular to that ring, producing the extended wings. A later stellar wind — a stream of charged particles moving at more than 3.2 million kilometres per hour — then drove through the existing lobes, reshaping them into the intricate cavities, projections and shock-brightened edges visible here.
Image details and provenance
- Subject: NGC 6302, the Bug Nebula or Butterfly Nebula
- Object type: Planetary nebula in the Milky Way
- Constellation: Scorpius
- Distance from Earth: Approximately 4,000 light-years
- Physical scale: The butterfly-shaped nebula extends for more than two light-years
- Telescope: Hubble Space Telescope
- Instrument: Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)
- Observation date: 27 July 2009
- Wavelengths and filters: Ultraviolet and visible-light observations using filters isolating emission from oxygen, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur
- Image construction: Composite image created from filtered Hubble observations
- Programme: Hubble Servicing Mission 4 Early Release Observations
- Original release date: 9 September 2009, 17:00
- Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
Choosing the right size and finish
Fine art can feel intimate at smaller sizes and more architectural at larger ones. Use the room preview, model image and size guide to judge the scale of the piece in your space.
For exact dimensions, specialist framing or a larger project, ask our workshop for advice.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this art print.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, or one considered visual detail. See examples of personalised artwork.
Choose Original for colour that remains faithful to the source artwork, or Aged for a warmer antique character. See examples of our Aged artwork.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an art print, framed art print or canvas using the finish options above.
Framed art prints use crystal-clear optical acrylic for excellent clarity, reduced reflections and safer delivery. They arrive professionally framed and ready to hang.
Selected artworks can be produced at statement sizes up to 3 metres (10ft). Custom sizing and specialist framing are also available; contact our workshop if the exact option you need is not listed.
This artwork is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The work is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present an art print without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas art and explore the differences between my different finishes.
NGC 6302 — the Bug Nebula or Butterfly Nebula — spreads its two vast lobes across this Hubble view in incandescent pink, orange and white. The apparent delicacy is deceptive: these wing-like forms are streams of gas expelled by a dying star, heated to nearly 20,000 degrees Celsius and travelling at more than 950,000 kilometres per hour. Roughly 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, the nebula extends for more than two light-years.
At its centre, a narrow dark band pinches the luminous structure into a bipolar, hourglass form. This is a thick, doughnut-shaped ring of dust surrounding the central star, constraining its outflow and directing faster material into the elongated lobes. The star itself remains hidden within the ring. Once about five times the mass of the Sun, it has shed its outer layers over approximately 2,200 years and now floods the expelled gas with ultraviolet radiation, making it glow.
The image holds several distinct kinds of detail at once. Diffuse outer clouds dissolve into the black field, while nearer the centre the gas gathers into sharply illuminated folds, narrow filaments and finger-like projections. Warm reddish margins surround cooler-looking blue and green passages, and crisp white fronts trace places where fast-moving gas has overtaken material expelled earlier.
A closer look
The upper-left lobe is comparatively open and diaphanous. Fine strands curl through its faint glow, with brighter pink and white material emerging from softer blue-green haze. Along the lower-left region, several slender projections point back towards the concealed star. Astronomers think such finger-like forms may mark denser blobs of material that have resisted the pressure of the stellar wind.
Across the opposite lobe, the structure becomes more contorted. Twisting ridges and abrupt outlines run towards the lower right, while a bright edge presses against a neighbouring dark region. Particularly striking is the white formation at upper right, whose clean boundary records a shock wave: faster gas colliding with slower material that had already left the star. Throughout the nebula, the white areas correspond to emission from sulphur, while much of the red along the outer edges comes from nitrogen and marks the coolest gas visible in the image.
The central darkness gives the whole formation its visual tension. Light appears to burst away on either side, yet the source remains unseen. Beyond the brightest gas, faint wisps taper towards the margins and small, sharp points of light punctuate the deep background, emphasising the extraordinary breadth of the two-lobed structure.
How this image was made
Hubble observed NGC 6302 on 27 July 2009 using Wide Field Camera 3, which had been installed by NASA astronauts only two months earlier during Servicing Mission 4. The camera recorded ultraviolet and visible light through filters isolating emissions from oxygen, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur. These observations were combined to create the finished composite, allowing differences in the nebula’s temperature, density and composition to become legible through colour and structure.
The observation also reveals successive episodes in the star’s decline. Relatively slow-moving material first accumulated around its equator to form the obscuring dust ring. Faster gas escaped perpendicular to that ring, producing the extended wings. A later stellar wind — a stream of charged particles moving at more than 3.2 million kilometres per hour — then drove through the existing lobes, reshaping them into the intricate cavities, projections and shock-brightened edges visible here.
Image details and provenance
- Subject: NGC 6302, the Bug Nebula or Butterfly Nebula
- Object type: Planetary nebula in the Milky Way
- Constellation: Scorpius
- Distance from Earth: Approximately 4,000 light-years
- Physical scale: The butterfly-shaped nebula extends for more than two light-years
- Telescope: Hubble Space Telescope
- Instrument: Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)
- Observation date: 27 July 2009
- Wavelengths and filters: Ultraviolet and visible-light observations using filters isolating emission from oxygen, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur
- Image construction: Composite image created from filtered Hubble observations
- Programme: Hubble Servicing Mission 4 Early Release Observations
- Original release date: 9 September 2009, 17:00
- Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
Choosing the right size and finish
Fine art can feel intimate at smaller sizes and more architectural at larger ones. Use the room preview, model image and size guide to judge the scale of the piece in your space.
For exact dimensions, specialist framing or a larger project, ask our workshop for advice.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this art print.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, or one considered visual detail. See examples of personalised artwork.
Choose Original for colour that remains faithful to the source artwork, or Aged for a warmer antique character. See examples of our Aged artwork.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an art print, framed art print or canvas using the finish options above.
Framed art prints use crystal-clear optical acrylic for excellent clarity, reduced reflections and safer delivery. They arrive professionally framed and ready to hang.
Selected artworks can be produced at statement sizes up to 3 metres (10ft). Custom sizing and specialist framing are also available; contact our workshop if the exact option you need is not listed.
This artwork is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The work is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present an art print without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas art and explore the differences between my different finishes.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every restored art print begins with the original artist’s work—never an AI-generated replacement.
Our London studio works from carefully selected source material from museums, libraries, archives and private collections. We restore age-related damage, faded colour and imperfect reproduction while preserving the artist’s composition, brushwork, line, texture and period character.
We do not use generative AI to redraw, reinterpret or invent the artwork. Digital restoration is used only to recover and reproduce the original work as faithfully as possible.
Once restored, the master artwork is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our giclée art prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks for a rich, museum-quality finish. Framed art prints use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Framed canvas and specialist cotton-rag editions are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
