Stunning ‘cosmic butterfly’ captured on telescope after schoolchildren chose target

A stunning new image of a cosmic butterfly has been unveiled, captured by a Chilean telescope and released on Wednesday by the National Science Foundation’s NoirLab.

Photographed last month by the Gemini South telescope, the aptly named Butterfly Nebula lies 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius – a single light-year spans 6 trillion miles.

At its heart, a white dwarf star long ago shed its outer gaseous layers. These discarded gases now form the nebula's distinctive, billowing wings, glowing brightly from the aging star's heat.

Chilean schoolchildren chose this astronomical target to celebrate 25 years of the International Gemini Observatory's operation.