Chile telescope captures stunning cosmic butterfly
This image provided by NSF NOIRLab shows NGC 6302, a billowing planetary nebula that resembles a cosmic butterfly. (NSF NOIRLab via AP)
A telescope in Chile has captured a breathtaking new image of a cosmic butterfly.
The National Science Foundation’s NoirLab released the picture on Wednesday, News.Az reports, citing AP.
Snapped last month by the Gemini South telescope, the Butterfly Nebula lies 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. At its center, a white dwarf star expelled its outer gas layers long ago, forming glowing, butterfly-shaped wings.
Chilean schoolchildren selected this celestial target to mark 25 years of the International Gemini Observatory’s operations.
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