![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2014\/11\/the_egg_nebula\/15073129-1-eng-GB\/The_Egg_Nebula_small.jpg\")
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\nThis colourful image shows a cosmic lighthouse known as the Egg Nebula, which lies around 3000 light-years from Earth. The image, taken with the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a brief but dramatic phase in the life of a Sun-like star.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Egg Nebula is a \u2018preplanetary nebula\u2019. These objects occur as a dying star\u2019s hot remains briefly illuminates material it has expelled, lighting up the gas and dust that surrounds it.\n<\/p>\n
\nThese objects will one day develop into planetary nebulas which, despite the name, have nothing at all to do with planets. They gained their rather misleading title because when they were discovered in the 18th century they resembled planets in our Solar System when viewed through a telescope.\n<\/p>\n
\nAlthough the dying star is hidden behind the thick dust lane that streaks down the centre of this image, it is revealed by the four lighthouse-like beams clearly visible through the veil of dust that lies beyond the central lane.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe light beams were able to penetrate the central dust lane due to paths carved out of the thick cloud by powerful jets of material expelled from the star, although the cause of these jets is not yet known.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe concentric rings seen in the less dense cloud surrounding the star are due to the star ejecting material at regular intervals \u2013 typically every hundred years \u2013 during a phase of the star\u2019s evolution just prior to this preplanetary nebula phase. These dusty shells are not usually visible in these nebulas, but when they are it provides astronomers with a rare opportunity to study their formation and evolution.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe fleeting nature of this phase in a star\u2019s life \u2013 which occupies only a few thousand of the star\u2019s few billion years of existence \u2013 and the fact that they are fairly faint make it rare to capture them in action. In fact, the Egg Nebula, the first of its kind to be identified, was discovered only 40 years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\nThis image was taken with Hubble\u2019s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Artificial colours are used to represent how the light from the star reflects off the dust \u2013 this can tell scientists about the physical properties of the dust.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe image combines observations with three different polarising filters, each showing light vibrating at a specific orientation. The three filters have been coloured red, blue and green, and all three observations were made at a wavelength of 0.606 microns. The image spans 1.2 light-years. North is to the right and east is up.\n<\/p>\n