CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) —

A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new picture of a grand and graceful cosmic butterfly.

The National Science Foundation's NoirLab released the picture Wednesday.

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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.

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 butterfly-like wings billowing from the aging star, whose heat causes the gas to glow.

NSF NOIRLab via AP This image provided by NSF NOIRLab shows NGC 6302, a b

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