Dragon Egg NGC 6165

The Dragon Egg NGC 6164/5, located close by the 'fighting dragons of Ara' aka the Rim Nebula (NGC 6188). NGC 6164 is the bright orange area to the lower left of the central nebula and NGC 6165 is the bright orange area to the upper right of the central nebula. The nebula is the result of the ejection of mass from HD 148937 (blue star at the centre of the image) a very rare star type, 06.5f where only five of this type have been discovered thus far, three in our own galaxy and two in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud.

The blue nebulosity which surrounds is much fainter and is the result of an earlier mass ejection by HD 148937.

This is a combination of data from two telescopes to reveal the wider FoV as well as the detail in the central nebula. False colour image made using narrowband data.

26 hrs 20 mins of integration.