Planetary nebula Menzel 3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun. The gas streaming away creates an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round.

The 1000km/s speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star visible above at the nebula's center causes an unusual ant-like shape. Mz 3 may also be hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas.

Of the features of Mz 3, one of the most unusual is the chakram (first noticed in 2004). It's a faint, large, limb brightened ellipse that appears to have its center on the nebula's nucleus. While the plane of the ellipse is near the other feature's shared reflection symmetry plane, it is definitely offset.

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