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A successful courtship

Haim Huli from Kibutz Ramat HaKovesh, Israel

NGC 1360 — also known as the Robin’s Egg — lies in Fornax, roughly 1,400 light-years distant. Observations in 2017 showed this planetary nebula has not one but two white dwarfs at its center. Earlier in their lives, these stars shared their outer layers in a common envelope, which may explain the Egg’s oblong and mottled appearance. This image was taken with a 24-inch f/4.5 scope in Hα/OIII/RGB filters with exposure times of 15, 45, 5, 5, and 5 minutes, respectively.