Exploring the Structure of The Egg Nebula | Hubble Space Telescope

Exploring the Structure of The Egg Nebula | Hubble Space Telescope

This visualization examines the Hubble Space Telescope image of the Egg Nebula and showcases the shape and development of its three-dimensional components. The dying star has repeatedly ejected thin shells of gas and dust over the last 5,000 years. During the last 400 years, bipolar lobes have burst forth. This central activity is hidden behind a dense dusty disk. The light from the star, blocked by the disk and lobes, escapes toward the poles and creates a twin searchlight appearance.

This newly processed image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope is the clearest view yet of the Egg Nebula. It is a preplanetary nebula, a structure of gas and dust created as a Sun-like star approaches the end of its life. The Egg that we see now will eventually hatch, revealing a white dwarf at its center and leaving its shell to become a spectacular planetary nebula.

Many preplanetary nebulae are relatively dim and hard to spot. They are made of layers of gas ejected by the star, but that star is not yet hot enough to ionize the gas and cause it to glow. The Egg Nebula is relatively unique, easily visible as a sparkling jewelled egg in space. Powerful beams of starlight blast out of the inner cloud, two a-side, giving a breathtaking illumination to this cosmic structure. Fast-moving outflows of hot molecular hydrogen also emerge from within the dust cloud, visible just at the base of the searchlight beams. These outflows glow with infrared light, shown in this image by orange highlights.

The central cloud of dust is surrounded by concentric rings, themselves made up from thin, faint arcs of gas. These were created by successive outbursts from the central star. It ejected a little more material from its outer surface every few hundred years. The beams of starlight are reflected by these layers of gas, creating an appearance like ripples on the surface of water. The way that gas molecules reflect and scatter light gives a bluish color to the arcs. The reflected starlight reveals important details about the central star. This is not possible to view directly in its dusty shell.

Credits:

Science Visualization:  Christian Nieves (STScI) and Frank Summers (STScI)

Script and Narration: Frank Summers (STScI)

Audio:  Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Feb. 10, 2026

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