Bubble Nebula
Perhaps the most beautiful bubble we’ve ever seen, this Bubble Nebula gets its name honestly. It happens to be located close to Messier 52, an open cluster. How did the “bubble appearance” come to be? Apparently, it was a happy accident that was created by the stellar wind of a massive and hot young central star. The star inside the Bubble Nebula is known as SAO 20575 and can be seen in the image above. On top of all of this, the nebula is also near a giant molecular cloud that contains the expansion of the nebula. That is all while being excited and primed by its own hot central star, which causes it to glow.
The Bubble Nebula is another example of an emission nebula. Previous nebula or objects we discussed, such as Messier 57, happen to be part of that family. Of course, these are just nebulae that emit light of numerous wavelengths caused by ionized gases. However, not all of the nebulae part of the emission nebulae look the same. They all do have one thing in common it seems, a seemingly circular figure. The difference between the Bubble Nebula compared to, say, Messier 57…is that it was also affected by the giant molecular cloud too. Regardless, it is one of the most breathtaking photos captured by NASA and the ESA.