IC 418, also known as the Spirograph Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation of Lepus about 3,600 ly away from Earth.

[4] The nebula formed a few thousand years ago during the star's last stages of its red giant phase.

The nebula’s glow is caused by the central star’s ultraviolet radiation interacting with the gas.

The red color is nitrogen (the coldest gas in the nebula), the green is hydrogen and the traces of blue are the ionized oxygen gas (the hottest gas in the nebula due to its proximity to the central star).

[6] The name derives from the intricate pattern of the nebula, which resembles a pattern which can be created using the Spirograph, a toy that produces geometric patterns (specifically, hypotrochoids and epitrochoids) on paper.