Twin Jet Nebula
This view of the Twin Jet Nebula was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The Hubble Space Telescope captured a striking image of the Twin Jet Nebula and its glowing butterfly shape. The bright spot in the center of the image is an old binary star system and the wings are its outer shells of gas that were ejected.

The Twin Jet Nebula is a planetary nebula -- no planets are involved, but the characteristic shape of the ejected outer gas resembled a sphere -- but instead of having a large shell of gas, it has two lobes. Scientists believe the motion of the two stars is responsible for its shape, according to Hubble press release.

The stars that make up the Twin Jet Nebula, or PN M2-9, have a similar mass to our Sun. The smaller star is at an advanced age of its evolution and is a white dwarf. The larger star -- around 1.0 to 1.4 smaller masses -- has ejected its outer layers and is a red giant. It'll end its life as a white dwarf. The two blue patches traveling outward from the binary star system are fast jets of gas traveling at speeds greater than one kilometers per hour. Previous Hubble observations of the Twin Jet Nebula revealed intricate structural patterns and red areas that appear to be older gas trapped in the stellar wind.

The two stars provide a glimpse into what's in store for the sun. The star at the center of our solar system will expand, shed its outer layers and become a red giant. The sun's expansion will likely cause problems on Earth, and the extreme heat will likely evaporate water on the planet's surface. The good news is that won't happen for the next 2.8 billion years.

"These nebulae observed by Hubble give us a preview of our own sun's fate. Some 5 billion years from now, after the sun has become a red giant and burned the Earth to a cinder, it will eject its own beautiful nebula and then fade away as a white dwarf star," Howard Bond, from the Space Telescope Science Institute, said in a statement.