Bubble Nebula in mapped color (NGC 7635)

About this Image

NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, a nebula that is being shaped by a young hot star in its center.
The star 40 times more massive than the Sun is blowing a giant bubble of material into space. The dense gas surrounding the star is shaping the castoff material into a bubble. The bubble's surface is not smooth like a soap bubble's. Its rippled appearance is due to encounters with gases of different thickness.
The shell is being shaped by a very strong stellar wind of material and radiation which is emanating from the bright star forming shock waves. 11,300 light-years from us, the Bubble Nebula lies in the constellation Cassiopeia.
The image uses Sulphur-II as red channel, H-alpha as green and Oxygen-III as blue channel, a typical mapped color image using the Hubble palette.
North is to the left.

Checkout the Ha-O3 version in normal color assignment: here.

Check a wider view: here.

Compare a close-up image of the Hubble Space Telescope here.

Checkout a flash animation blending the normal image with the mapped one: here (press F11 for full screen).