NGC 6302, commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula, exhibits a distinct S-shaped pattern seen in reddish-orange in the image. Imagine a lawn sprinkler spinning wildly, tossing out two S-shaped streams. Though its wingspan covers over 3 light-years, NGC 6302 is no exception. The Butterfly Nebula has one of the most complex structures ever seen in a planetary nebula. In the case of the Butterfly Nebula, the researchers suspect that the star spun “like a spinning top that’s about to fall,” according to Kastner, throwing out gas in erratic patterns. The Butterfly Nebula. At first it appears chaotic, but if you stare for a while, you can trace its patterns. The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects. The same S-shape is present in the Butterfly Nebula, except in this case it is not water in the air, but gas blown out at high speed by a star. Imagine a lawn sprinkler spinning wildly, tossing out two S-shaped streams. At first it appears chaotic, but if you stare for a while, you can trace its patterns. The same S-shape is present in the Butterfly Nebula, except in this case it is not water in the air, but gas blown out at high speed by a star. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the dying central star of this particular planetary nebula has become exceptionally hot. The Butterfly Nebula. The dying central star is one of the hottest known stars in the galaxy. Both are among the dustiest planetary nebulae known and both contain unusually large masses of gas, which made them an interesting pair for study in parallel by a team of researchers. Imagine a lawn sprinkler … It has a surface temperature of around 222,204°C (400,000 F) and is hidden from view … The images depict two nearby young planetary nebulae, NGC 6302, dubbed the Butterfly Nebula, and NGC 7027.