Posted on 08/11/2020 11:31:33 AM PDT by Red Badger
(Courtesy of ESO)
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Thousands of light years away, there’s a “space butterfly” colored with brilliant blues and clouds of purple and red. It’s an image we’ve never seen in this much detail before.
So named for its resemblance to the winged insect, the “butterfly” is actually a planetary nebula—a giant cloud of gas that forms around an ancient star that hasn’t yet exploded. The European Space Observatory’s (ESO) aptly named Very Large Telescope, stationed in host country Chile, recently captured a vibrant image of the interstellar object.
This image of the planetary nebula NGC 2899 is the most detailed look at the “space butterfly” yet, captured by the European Space Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. (Courtesy of ESO)
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It’s known as NGC 2899 (NGC stands for New General Catalogue, which lists nebulae and other astral bodies like this one). It’s located somewhere between 3,000 and 6,500 light years away from Earth in the constellation Vela, which is visible in the southern hemisphere.
This planetary nebula’s lifespan isn’t long for this universe. Ultraviolet radiation lights up the shells of gas surrounding the star and causes them to shine quite brightly, the ESO said—but only for a few thousand years before they break up. That’s a relatively short lifespan in astronomy.
The Very Large Telescope, which captured the image, is the “world’s most advanced optical instrument,” according to the ESO. With the accompanying interferometer, the tool can illuminate details 25 times finer than individual telescopes. And on its own, the telescope tucked in the Chilean mountains can see things more than 4 billion times fainter than what the human eye could see.
This image shows the sky around the location of NGC 2899, which is visible at the very center of the frame. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2. (Courtesy of ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2)
Light up a doobie and put on some Pink Floyd...
I see God man!
In a small town outside of destiny
The legend lives on yet it lives free
That night the mountains glowed with fiery rage
From the darkness of hell out she came
Comin’ to get you!! You can’t escape
You’re gonna die, you wonder why?
Might wings beat out thunderous gusts of wind
Megatron eyes explode in the skies, it begins!
Talons like razors are shredding your bones to pieces
Is this a dream or is God’s telling you it’s over?
Mothra, Mothra, Mothra
Buildings are falling, black death is above you
You can’t run there’s nowhere to go
Rubble and stone block your path
You can’t escape from it’s wrath
Hot flashes burst, melting down civilization
Leaving destruction and desolation
You’re still alive but your luck is running out
It’s not a dream God’s told you it’s over
It’s over!!!
What can we do?
A creature of the night
Are we through?
Will this be our plight
Please save us. please
What did we wrong to you?
This holocaust is killing all of us
I’ve sent this beast to purify your kind
And for your world leave no life behind
Conquest complete, Mothra is nesting
Population for future infesting
Purification yes it’s been achieved
For eternity Mothra reigns supreme
For non-commercial use only.
Data from: LyricFind
What are the 2 bright stars, one red, one blue?
I don’t know.
I’ll ask God when I see Him.
He knows them all by name...................
Kosh!
Thought this had something to do with sex
Oh wait, that’s the Iron Butterfly
Lorien?
Based on their colors and distance apart, they might be Kappa Velorum and N Velorum.
On it's way to Portland anytime soon?
Giant flowers in space.
https://metawitches.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/star-trek-picard-s1e10-attack-of-the-giant-killer-space-flowers-.png
Picards reaction.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETfhddfXkAILlHp.jpg:large
*ping*
I think Steve Miller and the Wilson sisters collaborated on "Space Butterfly" back in the 1970s. It didn't chart well.
At least it wasn’t a killer hornet.
Killer Hornet!................
The neat thing about them is due to the telescope that took the photo they form a halo and a cross. Those are called artifacts from the support for the reflecting mirror in the middle of the telescope. :)
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