Second milestone: 602 light years from Earth
The Butterfly Nebula (also known as NGC6302), in the constellation of Scorpius, lies about 3600 light years from Earth. It is a stunning example of a bipolar planetary nebula: the remnant of a Sun-like star which long ago shed its outer atmosphere (that now gives the "butterfly" its wings) revealing the tiny, hot white dwarf star at its core.
The above beautiful image was taken by the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument of the Hubble Space Telescope, which is sensitive to visible, ultra-violet and near infra-red light.
Main image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team