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Egg Nebula

In the image center, an opaque oval cloud of gray gas aligned from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock hides a star. Two strong beams of light from the star emerge from large holes in both sides of the cloud, forming narrow cones extending toward 10 o’clock and 4 o’clock. The central cloud is surrounded by concentric, wispy shells of gas illuminated by the star’s light. The shells reflect extra light where they’re hit by the twin beams. A crowd of smaller stars with cross-shaped spikes over them surrounds the nebula on a black background.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals the clearest view yet of the Egg Nebula — a pre-planetary nebula of gas and dust created by a dying, Sun-like star. These newest observations, taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, include infrared data. Powerful beams of starlight blast out of the inner cloud, illuminating the cosmic structure. Fast-moving outflows of hot molecular hydrogen also emerge from within the dust cloud, visible at the base of the searchlight beams. These outflows glow with infrared light, which appears as orange highlights. The central dust cloud is surrounded by concentric rings of thin, faint arcs of gas. These were created by successive outbursts from the central star, which ejected material from its outer surface every few hundred years. The beams of starlight are reflected by these layers of gas, creating the appearance of ripples. The reflected starlight reveals important details about the central star, which is impossible to view directly in its dusty shell.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    21:02:18.75
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +36:41:37.8
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Cygnus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    About 1,000 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 1.12 arcmin across (about 0.97 light-years)

About the Data

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3 UVIS & IR
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F606W, F673N, F814W, F110W, F160W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Egg Nebula; CRL 2688
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Pre-planetary nebula
  • Release Date
    February 10, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Captures Light Show Around Rapidly Dying Star
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, Bruce Balick (UWashington)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 1668 × 1552
    png (2.72 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 1668 × 1552
    tif (2.21 MB)
  • Full Res (JPG), 1668 × 1552
    jpg (417.88 KB)
In the image center, an opaque oval cloud of gray gas aligned from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock hides a star. Two strong beams of light from the star emerge from large holes in both sides of the cloud, forming narrow cones extending toward 10 o’clock and 4 o’clock. The central cloud is surrounded by concentric, wispy shells of gas illuminated by the star’s light. The shells reflect extra light where they’re hit by the twin beams. A crowd of smaller stars with cross-shaped spikes over them surrounds the nebula on a black background.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images were acquired by the WFC3 Instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F606W+F673N+F814W+F110W, Green: F110W+F160W, Red: F160W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

Image titled Egg Nebula, HST WFC3 UVIS and IR. Added elements are compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. nAt center, an oval gray cloud from 1 ou2019clock to 7 ou2019clock hides a star. Two light beams emerge from large holes in both sides of the cloud, forming narrow cones extending toward 10 ou2019clock and 4 ou2019clock. The cloud is surrounded by concentric, wispy shells illuminated by the staru2019s light. The shells reflect extra light where hit by the twin beams. Small stars surround the nebula on a black background.nnAt bottom right, arrows indicate objectu2019s orientation on sky. North arrow points to 11 o'clock. East arrow points to 8 o'clock. At lower left is a scale bar. Top is labeled 0.24 light-years. Bottom is labeled 16.3 arcseconds. Baru2019s length is about one-fourth the imageu2019s width. nnAt top left a color key shows which filters were used to create the image and the color assignment of each. Top line, F606W, F673N, F814W, and F110W are blue. Second line, F110W and F160W are green. Third line, F160W is red.

Egg Nebula Compass

This image of the Egg Nebula was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

A still image from an animation. At center, a dusty disk is seen edge-on, looking like a wedge that is thicker on the left side. Narrow tongues of material extend up and down from the center of the disk. Two narrow searchlight beams also extend up and down forming a narrow V shape. Oval shells surround everything to give the nebula an egg shape.

Exploring the Structure of the Egg Nebula

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, bipo...

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Details

Last Updated
Feb 10, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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