The universe reminds us once again why it's deservedly awe-inspiring.
From a scientific perspective, Planetary Nebula M2-9, commonly known as the Twin Jet Nebula or Minkowski's Butterfly, is dying beautifully.
In new images released by Hubble, the two shimmering lobes of the binary star can be seen stretched out like butterfly wings.
According to Sci-Tech Today, with the PN M2-9 spending millions of years as a healthy star system, the nebula's center has started to slow down and collapse.
As such, the larger of the two stars, the dying star, is expelling its outer layers and inadvertently forming wings of a cosmic butterfly.
The European Space Agency (ESA) said, "The glowing and expanding shells of gas clearly visible in this image represent the final stages of life for an old star of low to intermediate mass. The star has not only ejected its outer layers, but the exposed remnant core is now illuminating these layers - resulting in a spectacular light show like the one seen here."
ESA researchers further explain, "The characteristic shape of the wings of the Twin Jet Nebula is most likely caused by the motion of the two central stars around each other. It is believed that a white dwarf orbits its partner star and thus the ejected gas from the dying star is pulled into two lobes rather than expanding as a uniform sphere."
"However, astronomers are still debating whether all bipolar nebulae are created by binary stars. Meanwhile the nebula's wings are still growing and, by measuring their expansion, astronomers have calculated that the nebula was created only 1200 years ago."
Researchers, as reported by Sci-Tech Today, suggest this is only the beginning of the so-called metamorphosis. The nebula's "wings" are expected to continually expand as the two stars spin about each other.
"This rotation not only creates the wings of the butterfly and the two jets, it also allows the white dwarf to strip gas from its larger companion," ESA researchers remark as told by Sci-Tech Daily, "which then forms a large disc of material around the stars, extending out as far as 15 times the orbit of Pluto!"
The planetary nebula M2-9 was first discovered by German-American astronomer Rudolph Minkowski in 1947. It can be found 2,100 light-years away from Earth's solar system and located within the constellation Ophiuchus.
The first image of the PN M2-9 was released in 1997.