NGC 6164 (sometimes referred to as the Dragon Egg) is a bipolar emission nebula spanning around 4 light-years across, situated 4,200 light-years away in the southern constellation of Norma. Its symmetric gaseous shroud and faint halo surround the blue, young, central star HD 148937, the brightest member of a triple star system orbiting around each other, from which powerful stellar winds moving around 8 million kilometers per hour created the nebula. The hot, luminous O-type star is some 40 times more massive than the Sun and just 3 to 4 million years old. In another 3 to 4 million years the massive star will end its life in a supernova explosion.
NGC 6164’s bipolar symmetry, as well as its extensive halo makes it similar in appearance to planetary nebulae but it is not. Expanding into the surrounding interstellar region the material in the halo is probably from an earlier gas burst from the central star, about 4000 years ago.
Imaged in Ha OIII and RGB on our Planewave CDK 700 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image Processing: Mike Selby