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
Did Japan’s PM Actually Back the Memecoin Bearing Her Name?- Honda’s Biggest Flex Isn’t Its Superbikes, It’s Selling 500K Bikes In One Month
- Allow Innovative Progressions To have a Tremendous Effect
- Watch SpaceX launch powerful ocean-mapping satellite for Europe and NASA early Nov. 17
- 4 Electric Vehicle Brands: Execution, Unwavering quality, and Development
- NASA shares first photos of Earth taken by Artemis II
- Step by step instructions to Pick an Incineration Urn: Variables to Consider
- Find the Effect of Web-based Entertainment on Psychological wellness: Exploring the Advanced Scene Securely
- The Advancement and Effect of Dental Embed Innovation on Oral Wellbeing
