C69 — Bug Nebula
Planetary Nebula in Scorpius
About
The Bug or Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302, is a two-lobed planetary nebula in Scorpius, about 3,400 light-years away. A dark dust lane across its waist hides its white-dwarf core, whose surface is above 200,000 K.
Imaging tips
- Too small to frame: it needs a long focal length and a fine pixel scale, and the bright core is easy to overexpose.
- One imager used 3-minute subs to protect the bright core and regretted skipping Hα, which would have caught the faint red gas around it.
- Bright for its size at 20.6 mag/arcsec², unlike most faint nebulae; the challenge is the core, not depth.
- Best in May and June, but it stays below 3° altitude from 50°N and about 18° from 35°N.
Facts
- Size
- 3′
- Magnitude
- 9.6
- Coordinates
- RA 17h 13.7m, Dec −37° 6′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- May, Jun
- Peak altitude
- 3° from 50°N, 18° from 35°N