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
The next frontier in space is closer than you think – welcome to the world of very low Earth orbit satellites - 2Italy Brings In New Measures In 2026 To Tackle Overtourism
- 3'Heated Rivalry' is just the tip of the iceberg. How hockey became the sexiest sport
- 4U.S. to drop childhood vaccine recommendations as it looks to Denmark, Washington Post reports
- 5Native artists in Texas and Mexico shared their vision of the universe for 4,000 years, ancient murals suggest
- Investigating Cooking and Culinary Expressions: An Excursion Through Flavors
- Hezbollah uses ambulances, paramedic uniforms, as disguise for terrorist activity, IDF says
- Honda’s Biggest Flex Isn’t Its Superbikes, It’s Selling 500K Bikes In One Month
- 'Outrageous and illegal' : UNRWA slams Israel for cutting off its water, comms and electric in Gaza
- China's 1st reusable rocket explodes in dramatic fireball during landing after reaching orbit on debut flight
- What will the Artemis 2 astronauts eat during their historic moon mission? (video)
- The Best Design Bloggers for Style Motivation
- Ringleader of suspected human trafficking network arrested in Ethiopia
- Nigeria’s return to Windsor castle signals new era in UK economic partnership
