Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025

The RCW 107 nebula, nicknamed the Dragon’s Egg, is a rare example of a nebula formed not by the death of an ordinary star, but by violent eruptions from a giant magnetic star, HD 148937. Recent studies suggest this star may be the result of the merger of two massive stars, explaining its extreme energy and the nebula’s bipolar shape. The expelled gas shows strong nitrogen enrichment, a “chemical signature” of material dredged up from the star’s inner layers. Seen in deep-sky astrophotography, its form wrapped in bluish and reddish filaments gives the impression of a cosmic egg surrounded by flames.