'Butterfly' nebula glides across a starry sky in beautiful new video

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A mesmerizing new image shows a "space butterfly" appearing to soar against a background of stars.

'Butterfly' nebula glides across a starry sky in beautiful new video : Read more

 

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The article says "NGC 2899 is somewhere between 3,000 and 6,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Vela, or the Sails."

Distance is important to know for accurate astronomical calculations. Example, a nebula with angular size 1.1 arcminute at 2000 pc distance, can be 2.0873 LY in diameter. Different distances for the same target can make for real differences in measurements, e.g. rate of expansion, age calculations.