[4] It was initially identified as a planetary nebula, and its distance was estimated to be approximately 6500 light-years away from Earth.

[8] However, recent results suggest that this object is a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk, at a distance of about 900 light-years away.

[4][9] It was discovered in 1985 on sky photographs obtained by Arturo Gómez, support technical staff at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near Vicuña, Chile.

[10] The photos suggested that there was a dark band across the object, but its exact structure was difficult to determine because of the atmospheric turbulence that hampers all images taken from the ground.

A disk of dust seen nearly exactly edge-on obscures the star and produces the dark band in the middle, the "burger".