There are a lot of nebulae in the universe, and they often get given catchy names like the Crab Nebula or Cat’s Paw Nebula.

There needs no explaining the name of this nebula—seen in an image taken from the Gemini South Telescope in Chile.

Located between 2,500 and 3,800 light years away in the constellation Scorpio, the Butterfly Nebula is made up of a really rather unique white dwarf star that around 2,000 years ago began pushing away its outer layers into a hot shell of ionized gas.

This is how what are known as planetary nebulae form: the shell of gas is expelled from a host star and creates a rough sphere of ejected stellar material. This star however, is casting out the gas and dust of its exterior into these long, butterfly wing shapes.

The rich red in the image are areas of ener

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