What Is Hatching in the Egg?
Abstract
We report VLA detections at 1.3, 2, and 3.6 cm of the Egg Nebula, RAFGL 2688. We resolve the source and find an inner 9" diameter core that is produced by ~0.01 Msolar of dust. It seems that the Egg Nebula experienced a major mass ejection, losing ~1 Msolar during the past <=1200 yr. The centimeter-wavelength emission is extended at a position angle of 53°, while the famous jets and lobes in the Egg Nebula lie along a position angle of 15°. The multiple symmetries in the Egg Nebula may occur because the rotation axis of the mass-losing star is not perpendicular to the orbital plane of the putative close binary. Between 3.6 cm and 350 μm, the dust opacity appears to vary as ν0.6, which can be explained if there are some grains with sizes at least as large as 0.5 cm.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1086/312437
- Bibcode:
- 2000ApJ...528L.105J
- Keywords:
-
- RADIO CONTINUUM: ISM;
- STARS: AGB AND POST-AGB;
- Radio Continuum: ISM;
- Stars: AGB and Post-AGB