Webb Telescope Reveals Hidden Star, Molecular Building Blocks in Butterfly Nebula
WASHINGTON – The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has pierced through obscuring dust to reveal the central star of the Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) and identified a wealth of molecules โcrucial โfor life, including complexโ organicโข compounds, within itsโฃ swirling structures.โ The โfindings,โ published August 27, 2025, in Monthly โขNotices of the โRoyal Astronomical Society, offer unprecedented insight into theโฃ chemical complexity of planetary nebulae and the environments around dyingโข stars.
Using the Mid-Infrared โInstrumentโฃ (MIRI) inโค integral fieldโข unit mode – combining a camera and spectrograph โto โคcapture images across multiple wavelengths simultaneously – an โฃinternational team of researchers analyzed data supplementedโข by observationsโฃ from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array. Thisโข powerful combination allowed them โขto identify nearly 200 spectral lines, eachโ representing a different atomโ or moleculeโค within the nebula.”These lines reveal โขnested โand interconnected structures traced by โdifferent chemical species,” explained the research team.Previously hidden by thick dust, the central star was โฃpinpointed by MIRI’s sensitivity to โmid-infrared wavelengths, revealing a previously undetected dust cloud heated by the star itself. Prior attempts to locate the star โwere unsuccessful due to โคtheโข lackโฃ of โฃsufficientโข infrared sensitivity and resolution.
The observations are โnotable as they demonstrate โฃthe presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), complex molecules considered building โblocks for โlife, forming withinโ the nebula. The research suggestsโฃ these PAHs are being triggered by ultraviolet โขradiation from the central โstar interacting with the surrounding gas and dust.
“The JWST/MIRI view of โขthe planetary nebula NGC 6302 – I.โฃ Aโค UV-irradiated torus and a hot bubble triggering PAH formation” is authored by Mikako Matsuura, โขKevin Volk, Patrick Kavanagh, and 36 other researchers. Theโข study’s DOI is 10.1093/mnras/staf1194.