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
Does physics say that free will doesn't exist? - 2Wonderful Sea shores All over the Planet
- 3Foreign military officials can become Israel's ambassadors, senior IDF commander tells 'Post'
- 4Moon rush: These private spacecraft will attempt lunar landings in 2026
- 5Former hostage Eitan Mor on Hamas: ‘They will not give up until the last Israeli is gone'
- Explainer-Why are hepatitis B vaccines given to newborns?
- Kissing is an ‘evolutionary conundrum.’ Scientists just mapped its unexpected origins
- Manual for Picking Coastline Travel
- Extravagance SUVs for Seniors: Solace, Innovation, and Security
- The most effective method to Alter Your Kona SUV for Greatest Solace and Comfort
- An Extended time of Careful Nurturing: Individual Bits of knowledge on Bringing up Kids
- US FDA approves Kura-Kyowa's blood cancer therapy
- VPN Administrations for Online Protection
- An Excursion Through Renowned Western Network programs
