Red Spiders

Credit: Gar­relt Mellema (Lei­den Uni­ver­sity) et al., HST, ESA, NASA

What a tan­gled web. The Red Spi­der Neb­ula, caught in this NASA Hub­ble Space Tele­scope image, is a two-lobed plan­e­tary neb­ula. Also called but­ter­fly neb­u­las, these plan­e­tary neb­ula are what remains when a nor­mal, Sun-like star reaches the end of its life. What is left becomes a white dwarf. The Red Spi­der Neb­ula, also called NGC 6537, houses one of the hottest white dwarfs astronomers have seen. The neb­ula is cre­ated when gas and dust blown out from the star, called a solar wind, col­lide with the walls of the neb­ula. The walls of the neb­ula aren’t mov­ing as fast. When the two col­lide, the atoms in the cloud begin to glow. As for the strange shape, stars at the final stage of their life throw off gas and star mate­r­ial in waves and in all dif­fer­ent directions.

The Red Spi­der Neb­ula is found toward the con­stel­la­tion of Sagit­tar­ius. It is thought to be about 4,000 light years away.