CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new picture of a grand and graceful cosmic butterfly.
The National Science Foundation’s NoirLab released the picture Wednesday.
Snapped last month by the Gemini South telescope, the aptly named Butterfly Nebula is 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. A single light-year is 6 trillion miles.
At the heart of this bipolar nebula is a white dwarf star that cast aside its outer layers of gas long ago. The discarded gas forms the butterflylike wings billowing from the aging star, whose heat causes the gas to glow.
Schoolchildren in Chile chose this astronomical target to celebrate 25 years of operation by the International Gemini Observatory.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
2 of Earth's rarest lightning phenomena captured simultaneously in once-in-a-lifetime photo - 2Major Scottish gangland figure Steven Lyons arrested in Bali
- 3Human evolution’s biggest mystery has started to unravel. How 2025 tipped the scales
- 4Winter storms blanket the East, while the U.S. West is wondering: Where’s the snow?
- 54 astronauts are now on their path to the moon. Here’s what happens next
- 10 Moves toward Start Your Own Effective Business
- German official report: Teen social media ban faces legal hurdles
- NASA says Maven spacecraft that was orbiting Mars has gone silent
- Manual for Individual accounting Rudiments for Fledglings
- Rick Steves' Newest Guidebook Is A Fresh Perspective On Italy Spilling The Country's Secrets
- Netanyahu leads meeting on West Bank riots, Katz defends axing administrative detention for Jews
- Irish defence minister's trip to Lebanon cancelled
- Mexico says a third of 130,000 missing people might be alive, fueling criticism from families
- Launch pad damaged as Russian rocket blasts off for space station, agency says
