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
Lockheed Martin opens new hypersonic weapons facility - 2Mars orbiter sees 'butterfly' crater spread its wings on the Red Planet
- 3Canada's Friendly Sunshine Coast City Is An Outdoor Playground Perfect For Hiking And Paddling
- 4France will build a new aircraft carrier as it increases defense spending
- 5Which Store is Your Decision ?
- Report in relation to renaming Herzog Park set to be withdrawn
- Computerized Moderation: Tracking down Equilibrium in the Advanced Age
- German Winemakers Rewrite The Rules Of Riesling In A Warming World
- Nigeria police charge Joshua driver with dangerous driving over fatal crash
- In these U.S. groups, deaths now exceed births. What’s happening?
- Where is Santa right now? NORAD tracks his 2025 Christmas Eve flight.
- Clocks to go forward one hour in Europe as summer time starts
- In the background: Visiting Notable Film Areas All over the Planet
- Instructions to Pick the Right Toothpaste for Your Dental Requirements
