| Telescope: | CFHT Coudé focus. |
| Date: | December 1993 |
| Instrument: | CFHT IR Camera + 13 elements UH AO system |
| Wavelength: | I, J, and H bands |
| Total exposure: | Exposure times for these images were on the order of 5 minutes, total integration time was about 20 minutes in each of the bands |
| Scale: | |
| Orientation: | North is up. East is left. |
| Observers: | C. Roddier, F. Roddier, M. Northcott, J.E. Graves |
Aging stars become unstable and eject material which condenses into clouds of dust. Bipolar nebulae were thought to be produced by polar outflows from a secondary companion star which accretes material ejected from the aging primary. This adaptative optics image confirms the binary nature of the central source (0.19" separation), seen here heavily reddened through the dust. It also reveals polar jets outflowing from the east component. The jets have cleared the dust away, letting blue light from the central source illuminate the two lobes of the nebula.
