#m29;

[restlessmachines]

Minkowski 2-9, abbreviated M2-9 (also known as Minkowski's Butterfly, Twin Jet Nebula or the Wings of a Butterfly Nebula) "M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula" Credit: B. Balick (U. Washington) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA

[restlessmachines]

Minkowski 2-9, abbreviated M2-9 (also known as Minkowski's Butterfly, Twin Jet Nebula or the Wings of a Butterfly Nebula) is a planetary nebula that is located about 2,100 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Rudolph Minkowski in 1947. This bipolar nebula takes the peculiar form of twin lobes of material that emanate from a central star. Astronomers have dubbed this object as the Twin Jet Nebula because of the jets believed to cause the shape of the lobes. Its form also resembles the wings of a butterfly. The nebula was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 1990s.