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Egg Nebula (CRL 2688)
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Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope have shown bright arcs of matter within the cloud, almost like tree-rings, that reveal the way in which the rate of mass ejection from the central star has varied throughout its recent period of mass-loss. Hubble has also shown starlight escaping in narrow, oppositely-directed beams through holes in the circumstellar cocoon. The beams may result from shadows cast by blobs of material distributed within the region of ring-like holes that are carved out by a wobbling, high-speed stream of matter. Alternatively, they may be due to starlight reflected off fine jet-like streams of matter being ejected from the center and confined to the walls of a conical region around the symmetry axis. Both theories call for the ejection of high-speed material in a narrow beam by some mechanism that isn't properly understood. Similar fine jets have been seen in the Cat’s Eye Nebula.
| Visual magnitude | 13.5 |
| Angular size | 30" × 15" |
| Distance | 3,000 light-years |
| Position | R.A. 21h 02.3m, Dec. +36° 42' |
Related category
• NEBULAE AND STAR CLUSTERS
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