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APOD: 2026 February 25 Á The Egg Nebula from the Hubble Telescope
Explanation:
Ever wonder what it would look like to crack open the Sun?
The
Egg Nebula, a dying
Sun-like star, can unscramble this question.
Pictured is a combination of several visible and
infrared
images of the nebula
(also known as RAFGL 2688 or
CRL 2688) taken with the
Hubble Space Telescope.
The star has shed its outer layers, and a
bright, hot core
(or "yolk") now illuminates the milky "egg white"
shells
of gas and dust surrounding the center.
The central lobes and rings are structures of
gas and dust recently ejected into space,
with the dust being dense enough to block our view of the
stellar core.
Light beams emanate from that
blocked core,
escaping through holes carved in the
older ejected material by newer, faster
jets expelled from the
starÁs poles.
Astronomers are
still trying to figure out what causes the disks, lobes, and jets during this
short (only a few thousand years!) phase of the starÁs
evolution, making this an egg-cellent image to study!
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: planetary nebula - Egg Nebula
Publications with words: planetary nebula - Egg Nebula
See also:
- APOD: 2026 February 3 Á Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb
- Planetary Nebula Abell 7
- APOD: 2026 January 5 Á The Red Rectangle Nebula from Hubble
- APOD: 2024 April 30 Á GK Per: Nova and Planetary Nebula
- APOD: 2025 August 31 Á NGC 7027: The Pillow Planetary Nebula
- APOD: 2025 August 22 Á A Tale of Two Nebulae
- APOD: 2025 August 5 Á NGC 6072: A Complex Planetary Nebula from Webb