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
Vote In favor of Your #1 Compelling Female Producer - 2A mom's viral post is raising the question: Do kids need snacks? Dietitians have answers.
- 3Nuno Loureiro, MIT physicist, fatally shot at home; police investigate
- 4There are thousands of aligned holes in Peru. Archaeologists now think they know who made them
- 5Kids may be more likely to get the new ‘Cicada’ variant of Covid-19, scientists say. Here’s what to know about BA.3.2
- The Way to Recuperation: Defeating Dependence
- 'Yellowstone' made him a fan favorite. His biggest role isn't the one you see.
- Manual for 6 Busssiness Class Flights
- At least 55 injured in Russia after train crashes, overturns
- Florence's Uffizi Gallery moves treasures to safety after cyberattack
- Big majority in Germany call Berlin's efforts on gas prices too weak
- PFAS in pregnant women’s drinking water puts their babies at higher risk, study finds
- We may have less control over how long we live than previously thought
- The Universe of Impeccable Pearls: A Manual for Valuable Gems
