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Egg Nebula Compass 

Image titled Egg Nebula, HST WFC3 UVIS and IR. Added elements are compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. At center, an oval gray cloud from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock hides a star. Two light beams emerge from large holes in both sides of the cloud, forming narrow cones extending toward 10 o’clock and 4 o’clock. The cloud is surrounded by concentric, wispy shells illuminated by the star’s light. The shells reflect extra light where hit by the twin beams. Small stars surround the nebula on a black background. At bottom right, arrows indicate object’s 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. Bar’s length is about one-fourth the image’s width. At 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.

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.

The scale bar is labeled in light-years along the top, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes about 3 months for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.

The scale bar is also labeled in arcseconds, which is a measure of angular distance on the sky. One arcsecond is equal an angular measurement of 1/3600 of one degree. There are 60 arcminutes in a degree and 60 arcseconds in an arcminute. (The full Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arcminutes.) The actual size of an object that covers one arcsecond on the sky depends on its distance from the telescope.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

This image shows visible and infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which WFC3 filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible-light color used to represent the light that passes through that filter.

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.
    +63:41:37.8
  • 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

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    jpg (479 KB)
Image titled Egg Nebula, HST WFC3 UVIS and IR. Added elements are compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. At center, an oval gray cloud from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock hides a star. Two light beams emerge from large holes in both sides of the cloud, forming narrow cones extending toward 10 o’clock and 4 o’clock. The cloud is surrounded by concentric, wispy shells illuminated by the star’s light. The shells reflect extra light where hit by the twin beams. Small stars surround the nebula on a black background. At bottom right, arrows indicate object’s 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. Bar’s length is about one-fourth the image’s width. At 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.
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

Related Images & Videos

In the image center, an opaque oval cloud of gray gas aligned from 1 ou2019clock to 7 ou2019clock 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 ou2019clock and 4 ou2019clock. The central cloud is surrounded by concentric, wispy shells of gas illuminated by the staru2019s light. The shells reflect extra light where theyu2019re hit by the twin beams. A crowd of smaller stars with cross-shaped spikes over them surrounds the nebula on a black background.

Egg Nebula

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals the clearest view yet of the Egg Nebula. This structure of gas and dust was created by a dying, Sun-like star. These newest observations were taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.

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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