A Mother Protects Her Egg – The Fighting Dragons of Ara (NGC 6188) and the Dragon’s Egg (NGC 6164 & 6165)

This image represents first light from my dual UltraCat 108 setup at Observatorio El Sauce in Chile. The Fighting Dragons of Ara, NGC 6188, is an emission nebula 4,000 light years from Earth in the Ara constellation. Radiation from giant nearby stars has shaped the dark tendrils of the Dragons, which are tens of light years long.

Below the Dragons, you can find the pink, hourglass-shaped Dragon’s Egg, NGC 6164 & 6165, which is surrounded by a striated teal-colored ring. This unique formation is likely the result of periodic massive gaseous outflows from the central star, HD 148937. That star is thought to be a rare Of?p star—a massive slowly rotating star that has a very strong magnetic field. Only a handful of them have been discovered in our galaxy.

Recent studies have found that HD 148937 has a binary companion star, which could also influence the shape and composition of the material surrounding the pair. Scientists estimate that HD148937 has a mass 55 times that of our sun—a true behemoth—and is roughly 3,600 light years away.

NGC 6164 refers to the lobe on the left side of the Egg and NGC 6165 refers to the right-hand lobe.