#bubble nebula

The Bubble Nebula, found in the Cassiopeia constellation, was snapped by Hubble in 2016.

Nebulas are giant clouds of cosmic gas and dust. In this case, the bright magenta spot at the top of the nebula, a star that burns a million times brighter than our sun, is pushing the galactic gas and dust into the bubble shape. 

 NGC 7635 !

This Hubble image shows a massive "bubble" blown into space by a super-hot, massive star within.

The young star forming the Bubble Nebula is 45 times more massive than our Sun. Gas on the star gets so hot that it escapes away into space as a "stellar wind" moving at over 4 million miles per hour!

This outflow sweeps up the cold, interstellar gas in front of it, forming the outer edge of the bubble like a snowplow piles up snow in front of it as it moves forward.

2005 November 7

NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula

Credit & Copyright: Russell Croman

Explanation: It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible above to the lower right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way. The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble's central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebula, pictured above in scientifically mapped colors to bring up contrast, is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of Cassiopeia.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)

NASA Official: Jay Norris.

A service of: EUD at NASA / GSFC