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
Congolese rape survivors search in vain for medicine after USAID cuts - 2When a sperm whale gives birth, the mother gets help from her friends
- 3Under pressure at home, Belgium's leader treads a tight rope with EU partners over funds for Ukraine
- 4A somber Thor is returning for 'Avengers: Doomsday': Watch the dread-filled teaser
- 5Former biotech CEO sued over COVID vaccine alleged insider trading
- This ‘CSI: Miami’ star spent years solving crimes on TV. Then she became the target of one herself.
- Top 5 Top of the line Books of the Year
- UN chief calls on Yemen's Houthi rebels to free all UN detainees
- Vote in favor of your #1 Kind of Cap
- Consumers advised to dispose of 19 cooking pans due to lead leaching risk, FDA reports
- These Are the Journalists Israel Has Killed Since the Start of the Iran War
- Mechanical Sidekick d: A Survey of \Elements and Execution d\ Cell phone
- Home Wellness Basics: Building Your Home Exercise center
- Hidden Island Cameras Capture Rare Tasmanian Species for the First Time Ever
