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
Hundreds are quarantined in South Carolina as measles spreads in 2 US outbreaks - 2Noctourism: the new safari travel trend that's changing the wildlife we can photograph in Africa
- 3Astounding Treehouses All over the Planet
- 4Step by step instructions to Pick the Right Web-based Degree Program
- 5One ant for $220: the new frontier of wildlife trafficking
- ‘It’s Israeli policy’: Report reveals abuse of Palestinians in prisons
- Instructions to Pick the Right Gold Speculation Procedure: Exploring the Market
- The most effective method to Amplify Your Opportunity for growth in a Web-based Degree Program
- Vote In favor of Your Number one Sort Of Blossoms
- How to identify animal tracks, burrows and other signs of wildlife in your neighborhood
- Practice environmental safety in Style: Divulging Famous Electric Vehicle Brands
- High Court freezes government move to shutter Army Radio pending ruling
- Benedict Cumberbatch takes on something even Sherlock can’t solve: male grief
- Germany's Lufthansa enters race for stake in Portuguese airline TAP
