{"id":158215,"date":"2025-11-28T15:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/158215\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T15:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:48:09","slug":"cosmic-butterfly-image-captured-by-gemini-telescope-in-chile-butterfly-nebula-in-scorpius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/158215\/","title":{"rendered":"Cosmic butterfly image captured by Gemini telescope in Chile, butterfly nebula in Scorpius"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id=\"articleLabel__link\" class=\"articleLabel__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/news\/\" title=\"Navigate to News\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News<\/a>Published: Nov. 28, 2025, 10:29 a.m.<img fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"sync\" alt=\"Cosmic Butterfly NGC 6302\" class=\"hero-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/3P6XJHDSYFEMVI453JQXHL4UR4.jpg\"  \/>This image provided by National Science Foundation\u2019s NOIRLab shows NGC 6302, a billowing planetary nebula that resembles a cosmic butterfly. The image was released Nov. 26, 2025 and was taken some time in September 2025 by the Gemini South telescope.(NSF NOIRLab via AP)<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BEBEX5O6ABAI5NYUQGK5PI3ESU\">By Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7U57WKVR4BBC5HTNAKOJLKZMMY\">A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new picture of a grand and graceful cosmic butterfly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EYB252OFENGRFH4FC43GL3H6TU\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/\">National Science Foundation<\/a>\u2019s NoirLab released the picture Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"X4ZNXADI7BB5RGKZKQGNAVKJ5E\">Snapped last month by the Gemini South telescope, the aptly named Butterfly Nebula is 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. A single light-year is 6 trillion miles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"UZB3IIUAW5CIDDHB3I5MFS6QIM\">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, whose heat causes the gas to glow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PSDREDMRR5DOHEEMMRUAN7YHSQ\">Schoolchildren in Chile chose this astronomical target to celebrate 25 years of operation by the International Gemini Observatory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NewsPublished: Nov. 28, 2025, 10:29 a.m.This image provided by National Science Foundation\u2019s NOIRLab shows NGC 6302, a billowing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[25291,6301,17060,111,139,104491,69,147,3929],"class_list":{"0":"post-158215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-chile","9":"tag-gemini","10":"tag-national-science-foundation","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-noirlab","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-telescope"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}