Hubble has captured the light show around a dying star

This is the Egg Nebula 🥚 the first, youngest, and closest pre-planetary nebula ever discovered. This pre-planetary stage lasts only a few thousand years, making the Egg Nebula a valuable target for astronomers studying stellar evolution. Twin beams from the star light up polar lobes that pierce a series of concentric arcs. Their shapes and motions suggest the presence of companion stars hidden within the thick dust.

The patterns captured by Hubble are too orderly to result from a violent explosion like a supernova. Instead, they likely come from a mysterious sequence of sputtering events in the core of the dying star!

Read more: esahubble.org/news/heic2604/