The star is embedded in thick shells of expelled gases and dust, and owing to its appearance has been nicknamed by astronomers the "Fried Egg Nebula".

[8] Although IRAS 17163-3907 is one of the brightest mid-IR sources in the sky, very few observations were made until 2011 when it was proposed to be at a much larger distance and hence to be a highly luminous object, probably a yellow hypergiant.

[6] The picture of the star causing it to be dubbed the Fried Egg Nebula was taken in the mid infrared spectrum by the VISIR instrument in the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

The time period between expulsion of materials causing the first and the second outer shells is estimated at 435 years and the total mass in the ejecta is around 4 M☉, of which about 1% is dust.

[6][10] The properties of these shells are considered similar to those surrounding IRC+10420 (also an evolved massive star suffering heavy mass loss)[9] as well as, for the outer shell, those around luminous blue variables, suggesting both that IRAS 17163−3907 is in a pre-LBV stage and that the ring nebulae that often surround those types of stars may originate with mass loss during the red supergiant stage.