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
Palestinians forced from West Bank refugee camps left in limbo as Israeli demolitions go on - 2Indoor Drinking Fountains: Famous Home Advancements during the Pandemic
- 3Gaza amputees struggle to rebuild lives as the enclave faces shortages of prosthetic limbs
- 4Osteoporosis, the silent disease, can shorten your life − here’s how to prevent fractures and keep bones healthy
- 5Investigating the Advantages of a Bank account: A Complete Aide
- ByHeart sued over recalled formula by parents of infants sickened with botulism
- Foods with healthy-sounding buzzwords could be hiding added sugar in plain sight
- Outside Lovers' Decision: Favored Climbing Rucksacks
- Israel's Druze use AI to present to UN testimonies of 'sexual terrorism' against Syrian Druze women
- Language Learning Stages: Which One Gets Your Vote?
- There are thousands of aligned holes in Peru. Archaeologists now think they know who made them
- Vote In favor of Feasible Way You Prescribe to Shop for Garments
- Machado ‘presented’ her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump
- 5 Worldwide Road Food varieties You Should Attempt
