Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2022

54 MARCH-APRIL 2022 ASTRO PUBLISHING be seen in visible light, as in this view. Hidden at the core of this re- flection nebula, and at the center of this image, is the engine of the neb- ula, a low-mass star (less massive than our Sun) that is eclipsed by a dark vertical band. Even though it is concealed from view, this young, cool star emits streams of fast-mov- ing gas that have carved a tunnel through the interstellar cloud from which the young star formed. In- frared and visible light emitted by the star escapes along this tunnel and scatters off its walls, giving rise to the wispy reflection nebula. The bright red object to the left of the image center marks where some of T his ethereal image, captured from Chile by the interna- tional Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, looks as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. It is, however, a nabula located near the center of the mammoth Chamaeleon I dark cloud, one of the nearest star- forming regions in our Milky Way. This breathtaking visible-light im- age, taken with the Gemini South telescope, looks as though it is ready to flutter off the screen. This appar- ently wispy object is an outflow of gas known as the Chamaeleon In- frared Nebula − so named because it is bright at some infrared wave- lengths of light, although it can also The Gemini South catches a one-winged butterfly by NOIRLab Vanessa Thomas