Seen here above and right of the Bubble's center is a bright hot star embedded in reflecting dust.
A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from the star, which likely has a mass 10 to 20 times that of the Sun, has blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud.
The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia.