Explanation:
Seemingly
adrift in a
cosmic sea
of stars and glowing gas, the delicate, floating apparition near the
center (next to a blue tinted star) of this widefield view is
cataloged as NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula.
A mere 10 light-years wide, the tiny Bubble Nebula and
the larger complex of interstellar
gas and dust
clouds are found about 11,000
light-years
distant, straddling the boundary between the parental constellations
Cepheus and
Cassiopeia.
Also included in the breathtaking vista is
open star
cluster M52 (upper left), some 5,000 light-years away.
The
digital color picture is based on
photographic plates taken at the
Palomar
Observatory between 1992 and 1997.
This cropped version spans about 2.7 degrees on the
sky corresponding to a width of just over
500 light-years at the estimated distance of the
Bubble Nebula.
