Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)
IC 1318 - Butterfly Nebula, Walter Koprolin
IC 1318 - Butterfly Nebula
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IC 1318 - Butterfly Nebula, Walter Koprolin
IC 1318 - Butterfly Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

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Description

IC 1318, also known as Butterfly Nebula, is an emission nebula and HII region in the constellation Swan. The nebula is about 4900 light years away from Earth and has an extension of 100 light years. IC 1318 is divided into the three parts IC 1318 A (outside the image towards the north), IC 1318 B (upper right of the image) and IC 1318 C (lower left of the image). IC 1318 B and IC 1318 C are separated by the 20 light-years wide dark cloud LDN 88 (at the center).

The nebula emits all of its light in isolated emission lines. The most prominent of these are the lines Hα, [OIII] and [SII], which were recorded exclusively to capture the image shown above. This is a "natural color" composition that is mixed so that the resulting colors come close to the visible spectrum of the human eye. The following mixture was used:

Red = Hα + 24% [SII]

Green = [OIII]

Blue = [OIII] + 15% Hα to compensate for missing Hβ

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IC 1318 - Butterfly Nebula, Walter Koprolin