A bipolar nebula is a type of nebula characterized by two lobes either side of a central star. About 10–20% of

planetary nebula A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. The ...

e are bipolar.

Formation

Though the exact causes of this nebular structure are not known, it is often thought to imply the presence of a binary central star with a period of a few days to a few years. As one of the two stars expelled its outer layers, the other disrupted the outflow of material to form the bipolar shape.

Examples

Homunculus Nebula The Homunculus Nebula is a bipolar nebula, bipolar Emission nebula, emission and reflection nebula surrounding the massive star system Eta Carinae, about () from Earth. The nebula is embedded within the much larger Carina Nebula, a large Star-fo ...

around

Eta Carinae η Carinae (Eta Carinae, abbreviated to η Car), formerly known as η Argus, is a stellar system containing at least two stars with a combined luminosity greater than five million times that of the Sun, located around ...

* Hubble 5 * M2-9 – The Wings of a Butterfly Nebula * OH231.8+4.2 – The

Calabash Nebula The Calabash Nebula, also known as the Rotten Egg Nebula or by its technical name OH 231.84 +4.22, is a protoplanetary nebula (PPN) 1.4 light years (13 Pm) long and located some 5,000 light years (47 Em) from Earth in the constellation Puppis ...

or Rotten Egg Nebula * Mz3 (or Menzel 3) – The

Ant Nebula Mz 3 (Menzel 3) is a young bipolar nebula, bipolar planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Norma (constellation), Norma that is composed of a bright core and four distinct high-velocity outflows that have been named lobes, columns, rays, and c ...

* CRL 618 – The

Westbrook Nebula Westbrook Nebula (CRL 618) is a bipolar nebula, bipolar protoplanetary nebula which is located in the constellation Auriga (constellation), Auriga. It is being formed by a star that has passed through the red giant phase and has ceased nuclear fusi ...

* CRL 2688 – The

Egg Nebula The Egg Nebula (also known as RAFGL 2688 and CRL 2688) is a bipolar nebula, bipolar protoplanetary nebula approximately 3,000 light-years away from Earth. Its peculiar properties were first described in 1975 using data from the 11 μm survey ...

* HD 44179 – The Red Rectangle Nebula * MyCn18 – The

Engraved Hourglass Nebula The Engraved Hourglass Nebula (also known as MyCn 18) is a young planetary nebula in the southern constellation Musca. It was discovered by Annie Jump Cannon and Margaret W. Mayall during their work on an extended Henry Draper Catalogue (the c ...

* – The

Southern Crab Nebula The Southern Crab Nebula (or WRAY 16-147 or Hen 2-104) is a nebula in the constellation Centaurus. The nebula is several thousand light years from Earth, and its central star is a symbiotic Mira variable − white dwarf pair. It is named for it ...

* The

Boomerang Nebula The Boomerang Nebula ( canonical name ) is a pulsar-wind bipolar reflection nebula located approximately 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 ...

NGC 2346 NGC 2346 is a planetary nebula near the celestial equator in the constellation of Monoceros, less than a degree to the ESE of Delta Monocerotis. It is informally known as the Butterfly Nebula. The nebula is bright and conspicuous with a visual m ...

– Also known as the Butterfly NebulaAPOD: 28 October 2001 – NGC 2346: A Butterfly-Shaped Planetary Nebula
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NGC 6302 NGC 6302 (also known as the Bug Nebula, Butterfly Nebula, or Caldwell 69) is a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. The structure in the nebula is among the most complex ever seen in planetary nebulae. The spectrum of Butte ...

– The Bug or Butterfly Nebula *

KjPn 8 Nebula KjPn 8 is a bipolar planetary nebula which was discovered by M.A. Kazaryan and Eh. S. Parsamyan in 1971 and independently by Luboš Kohoutek in 1972. Very little was published about this nebula until 1995, when it was realized that KjPn 8 sits ...

– The largest (in angular size) bipolar planetary nebula.

Formation

Examples

References

See also