Egg Nebula
| Reflection nebula | |
|---|---|
| Protoplanetary nebula | |
RAFGL 2688, the Egg Nebula | |
| Observation data: J2000 epoch | |
| Right ascension | 21h 02m 18.75s |
| Declination | +36° 41′ 37.8″ |
| Distance | approx 3000 ly (920 pc) |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 14.0 |
| Apparent dimensions (V) | 30″ × 15″ |
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Radius | 0.2[a] ly |
| Absolute magnitude (V) | 4.2[b] |
| Designations | CRL 2688, The Egg, Cygnus Egg V1610 Cyg |
The Egg Nebula (also known as RAFGL 2688 and CRL 2688) is a bipolar protoplanetary nebula approximately 3,000 light-years away from Earth. Its peculiar properties were first described in 1975 using data from the 11 μm survey obtained with sounding rocket by Air Force Geophysical Laboratory (AFGL) in 1971 to 1974. (Previously, the object was catalogued by Fritz Zwicky as a pair of galaxies.)