Adrift in a cosmic sea of stars and glowing gas the delicate, floating apparition left of center in this widefield view is cataloged as NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula.
A mere 10 light-years wide, the tiny Bubble Nebula was blown by the winds of a massive star.
It lies within a larger complex of interstellar gas and dust clouds found about 11,000 light-years distant, straddling the boundary between the parental constellations Cepheus and Cassiopeia.
Included in the breathtaking vista is open star cluster M52 (lower left), some 5,000 light-years away.
Above and right of the Bubble Nebula is an emission region identified as Sh2-157, also known as the Claw Nebula.
Constructed from 47 hours of narrow-band and broad-band exposures, this image spans about 3 degrees on the sky.
That corresponds to a width of 500 light-years at the estimated distance of the Bubble Nebula.
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