                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2026 February 25
      A starfield is shown with an unusual orange object in the center.
   Surrounding this object are blue rings and four thick jets. Please see
               the explanation for more detailed information.

                  The Egg Nebula from the Hubble Telescope
   Image Credit & Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Balick (U. Washington)

   Explanation: Ever wonder what it would look like to crack open the Sun?
   The Egg Nebula, a dying Sun-like star, can unscramble this question.
   Pictured is a combination of several visible and infrared images of the
   nebula (also known as RAFGL 2688 or CRL 2688) taken with the Hubble
   Space Telescope. The star has shed its outer layers, and a bright, hot
   core (or "yolk") now illuminates the milky "egg white" shells of gas
   and dust surrounding the center. The central lobes and rings are
   structures of gas and dust recently ejected into space, with the dust
   being dense enough to block our view of the stellar core. Light beams
   emanate from that blocked core, escaping through holes carved in the
   older ejected material by newer, faster jets expelled from the star’s
   poles. Astronomers are still trying to figure out what causes the
   disks, lobes, and jets during this short (only a few thousand years!)
   phase of the star’s evolution, making this an egg-cellent image to
   study!

                       Tomorrow's picture: spiral webb
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

