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Telescope in Chile captures stunning new picture of a cosmic butterfly
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Telescope in Chile captures stunning new picture of a cosmic butterfly

  • By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new picture of the Butterfly Nebula, a grand and graceful cosmic wonder. 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. 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. Schoolchildren in Chile chose this astronomical target to celebrate 25 years of operation by the International Gemini Observatory.

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  • By Michelle Morales Torres
  • Updated

As the sun sets and if you look west, the same direction the sunset, the two top stars of Gemini have shifted further north and a bit further …