Cosmic butterfly seen in stunning new image captured by telescope

A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new image of a large and graceful cosmic butterfly.

The National Science Foundation’s NoirLab released the photo Wednesday. The glowing “wings” appear to burst across the image. While the bipolar nebula goes by the nicknames Butterfly Nebula, Bug Nebula or Caldwell 69, its official name is NGC 6302.

Photographed last month by the Gemini South telescope – half of the International Gemini Observatory on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in central Chile – the aptly named Moth Nebula lies 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 shed its outer layers of gas long ago. The released gas forms the butterfly-shaped wings that rise from the aging star, whose heat causes the gas to glow.

Chilean students chose this astronomical target to celebrate 25 years of activity of the International Gemini Observatory.

“This picturesque object was chosen as the target for the 8.1 meter shot [26.5-foot] telescope by students in Chile as part of the Gemini First Light Anniversary image competition,” NoirLab wrote on its website. “The competition engaged students at Gemini telescope home sites to celebrate the legacy that the Gemini International Observatory has built since its completion, marked by first light from Gemini South in November 2000.”

It’s unclear exactly when NGC 6302 was discovered, NoirLab says, but a 1907 study by American astronomer Edward E. Barnard is often credited. Scottish astronomer James Dunlop could also have discovered it in 1826.

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