Overview
- NASA and ESA released a newly processed Hubble image that merges recent WFC3 observations with a 2012 dataset to produce the sharpest view of the Egg Nebula.
- The pre-planetary nebula about 1,000 light-years away shines by reflected light escaping through a polar “eye,” revealing twin beams, fast polar lobes, and concentric arcs.
- The central star remains hidden behind a dense dusty disc expelled only a few hundred years ago during a brief transitional phase that lasts a few thousand years.
- Astronomers say the nebula’s orderly arcs and lobes likely arise from coordinated, poorly understood sputtering events rather than a supernova, with shapes suggesting possible hidden companions.
- The multi-epoch imagery will allow scientists to track structural changes over time and improve models of mass loss and dust production that later seed planetary systems.