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
A definitive Manual for Picking Electric Vehicle: Decision in favor of Your Number one - 2Parents speak out as 4-year-old fights button battery injury in intensive care unit
- 3How does Spotify Wrapped calculate your listening age? What your number says about you.
- 4Top 15 Style Creators Changing the Business
- 5Doctored NXT Summit footage falsely portrays Modi as declaring war on Iran and Pakistan
- Vote In favor of Your Favored Shimmering Water
- A Manual for the Right SUV for Seniors
- Sunken warship found off Danish coast after 225 years in ‘remarkable’ discovery
- 37 Things Just Individuals Experiencing childhood during the 80s Will Comprehend
- Travel Through France's Most Iconic Wine Regions By Train On An Immersive Seven-Day Journey
- Army commander convicted of Guinea stadium massacre dies in prison
- Israel violated ceasefire with Hezbollah more than 10,000 times, UNIFIL claims
- An Investigate of 6 Creative Specialty Mixed drinks
- Best Amusement Park Bite: What Do You Very much want to Crunch On?
