The Butterfly Nebula, photographed by the Gemini South telescope, reveals bright wings formed by gas expelled from a white dwarf star, located thousands of light-years away in the constellation Scorpius
The stunning image of a majestic and graceful cosmic butterfly is an astronomical formation captured by a telescope in Chile, looking like butterfly wings due to complex stellar processes.
At the center of this bipolar nebula is a white dwarf star that long ago expelled its outer layers of gas. The expelled gas forms the butterfly-like wings that protrude from the aging star, whose heat causes the gas to glow.
Photographed by the Gemini South telescope, the aptly named Butterfly Nebula is located at a distance of 2,500 to 3,800 light years in the constellation of Scorpius. One light year is 6 trillion miles.
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The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) NoirLab released the image on November 26. Chilean students chose this astronomical object to celebrate 25 years of operation of the Gemini International Observatory. Source: Associated Press.
