Object Analysis

The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It looks like a delicate, transparent bubble floating in space. The bubble is created by the stellar wind from a massive, hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).

The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow. The massive central star pushes its material out at 4 million miles per hour, but the surrounding molecular cloud applies pressure back, creating the spherical shockwave.

Located 7,100 to 11,000 light-years away, the bubble is about 7 light-years across—about one-and-a-half times the distance from our Sun to Alpha Centauri. The star powering this bubble is 45 times more massive than our Sun and will likely detonate as a supernova in 10 to 20 million years.