A Hubble bubble! This enormous bubble seen by our Hubble Space Telescope is being blown into space by a super-hot, massive star. Spanning 7 light-years across, this Bubble Nebula was chosen to mark the 26th anniversary of the launch of Hubble into Earth orbit. The seething star forming this 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 four million miles per hour. This outflow sweeps up the cold, interstellar gas in front of it, forming the outer edge of the bubble much like a snowplow piles up snow in front of it as it moves forward.
Credits: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, and L. Frattare (Viz 3D Team, STScI)
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