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Hubble can will no longer be the gold standardbut it can still capture some impressive images. The latest telescope snapshot is our clearest view of the Egg Nebula. About 3,000 light-years away from Earth, the nebula gets its name from the dense layer of gas and dust that covers the central star.
The new image shows four rays of starlight in the nebula (from that central star) escaping from its gas-and-dust “shell”. On either side of the disc-like cloud are fast-moving streams of hot molecular hydrogen. The orange highlights in this image reflect the rays of infrared light.
As rays of light from the star extend from the center, they illuminate concentric rings of gas. The ripple-like pattern of the gas suggests that it was created by a series of explosions from the star, with small emissions every few hundred years.
Hubble image of the Egg Nebula. A disc of gas and dust surrounded by light rays and concentric rings of dust. (SA / Hubble & NASA, B. Balick (University of Washington))
The Egg Nebula, found in the constellation Cygnus, was first discovered in 1975. Nebulae in this preplanetary phase are extremely rare. Because the phase lasts only a few thousand years (and because they are always faint), they are relatively difficult for astronomers to see. By comparing this new image with previous Hubble snapshots of the Egg Nebula, astronomers can learn more about it and shed more light on its processes. But for the rest of us, it makes for some sweet eye candy, right?
