Stunning space butterfly captured by telescope

Resembling a butterfly with its symmetrical structure, beautiful colors, and intricate patterns, this striking bubble of gas—known as NGC 2899—appears to float and flutter across the sky in this new picture from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). This object has never before been imaged in such striking detail, with even the faint outer edges of the planetary nebula glowing over the background stars.

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Credit: ESO

NGC 2899's vast swathes of gas extend up to a maximum of two light-years from its center, glowing brightly in front of the stars of the Milky Way as the gas reaches temperatures upwards of ten thousand degrees.

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This video sequence starts from a wide field of the region of the sky around NGC 2899 and closes in on the planetary nebula.