Explanation:
Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar
apparition has a surprisingly
familiar shape.
Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply
as The
Bubble Nebula.
Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter
bubble offers evidence of
violent processes at work.
Above and right of the Bubble's center is a hot,
O-type star, several hundred thousand
times more luminous and approximately 45 times more massive
than the Sun.
A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from that
star has blasted out the
structure of glowing gas
against denser material
in a surroundingmolecular
cloud.
The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere
11,000 light-years away toward the boastful constellation
Cassiopeia.
A false-color
Hubble palette was used to create
this sharp image and
shows emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in red,
green, and blue hues.
The image data
was recorded using a small telescope under
clear, steady skies, from Mount Wilson Observatory.
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