Nebulae · Nebula · planetary nebula
A planetary nebula around a dying star. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Hubble WFC3 view, 2009 (Sampled from this image)
#6C5356#060504#1A130A#3F2B15#70462E#987076#BFA8BD
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team. · released 9 September 2009
About Butterfly Nebula
A planetary nebula around a dying star.
| Classification | Nebula (planetary nebula) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | NGC 6302 |
| Distance | 4,000 light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESA/Hubble |
| Observed light (this view) | U, HeII, OIII, H-alpha, NII, SII |
Why these colours?
Hubble WFC3 view, 2009
Emission-line filters assigned to visible colours. Filters listed by the publisher: U (373 nm), HeII (469 nm), OIII (502 nm), H-alpha (656 nm), NII (658 nm), SII (673 nm).
From: Hubble WFC3 view, 2009 Multiwavelength composite
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Butterfly Nebula.
Hubble WFC3 view, 2009
Sampled from this image · Hubble WFC3 view, 2009
#6C5356RGB 108, 83, 86region average#060504RGB 6, 5, 454% of the region#1A130ARGB 26, 19, 1014% of the region#3F2B15RGB 63, 43, 2111% of the region#70462ERGB 112, 70, 469% of the region#987076RGB 152, 112, 1187% of the region#BFA8BDRGB 191, 168, 1895% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Butterfly Nebula
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Butterfly Nebula
Inspired by this object
#2F2D2BRGB 47, 45, 43from #060504#564D43RGB 86, 77, 67from #1A130A#846D56RGB 132, 109, 86from #3F2B15#BB8C72RGB 187, 140, 114from #70462E#DEB2B8RGB 222, 178, 184from #987076#F7DFF5RGB 247, 223, 245from #BFA8BD
Colours of the first view of Butterfly Nebula with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- Butterfly emerges from stellar demise in planetary nebula NGC 6302 — ESA/Hubble
Image credits
- Hubble WFC3 view, 2009: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team. CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 06a020f7121fb0639d43016ff9fdaa6b6a8b477e8ceb6bfd351a562dbd6bea6d).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision b075e335cd14. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.