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
Israel reports killing another senior Iranian oil official - 2Instructions to Pick the Right Dental Embed Trained professional: An Exhaustive Aide
- 3Germany raises prospect of military forces to secure Ukraine peace
- 4Chicago reports first rabies-positive dog in 61 years. What we know.
- 5Blue Origin's next space tourism flight will break new ground for people with disabilities
- A Colombian city swaps iconic horse buggies for electric carriages amid animal welfare concerns
- Latvia seeks emergency UN meeting over Russian missile attack on Lviv
- Israel scales back use of top missile interceptors as Iran barrages persist
- Conquering Language Boundaries: Individual Accounts of Multilingualism
- Make your choice for the PS5 game that you love playing with companions!
- Vote in favor of Your Fantasy Vehicle: Which Notable Model Catches Your Heart?
- Brazil expands pesticide packaging reverse logistics
- ACA subsidies latest: Making sense of what's happening with health care after Republicans revolt, forcing a vote on funding extension
- Cheetah, Hammerhead Shark, and 38 Other Animals in Danger of Extinction Receive New International Protections from U.N.
