Westbrook Nebula

The Westbrook Nebula — also known as PK166-06, CRL 618 and AFGL 618 — is a protoplanetary nebula. This highly irregular bundle of disconnected jets and clouds is the result of a burst of a dying star expelling gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.

There are only a few hundred protoplanetary nebulae known in the Milky Way. They appear during a star’s rapid stellar evolution between the late asymptotic giant branch phase and the subsequent planetary nebula phase.

But these short-lived clouds of gas are faint and very hard to see. They emit strong in infrared radiation, and are cool in temperature, so they emit small amounts of visible light.