In 2015, the American Gary Pearlman made the largest bubble with a volume of 96 cubic meters. Yet this record pales in comparison to the size of the Bubble Nebula. This emission nebula is ten light-years across.

In 2016, NASA celebrated Hubble’s 26th birthday with this stunning image of the Bubble Nebula. This cosmic space ocean is called NGC 7635 and is located 8,000 light-years from Earth. This space photo of the week is one of Hubble’s crown jewels.

There are different types of nebulae in the universe. For example, there are planetary nebulae, which are formed when stars shed their outer shells in the final phase of their lives. Or dark nebulae that give no light at all, such as the Horsehead Nebula. The Soap Bubble Nebula is a so-called emission nebula. This means that the gas and dust present in the nebula is heated by nearby stars. In the case of the Bubble Nebula, a bright star (in the upper left corner of the nebula) is responsible for this. This gas giant is ten to twenty times larger than the sun and throws plasma into space. These plasma storms push out gas and dust in interstellar space, creating the bubble.

The bubble continues to grow

The nebula is currently expanding at a speed of 100,000 kilometers per hour. This means that the bubble continues to grow. The bubble will not burst – like a soap bubble on Earth – but will become less and less visible at some point.

Over the past decades, space telescopes and satellites have captured beautiful images of nebulae, galaxies, stellar nurseries and planets. Every weekend we remove one or more impressive space photos from the archive. Enjoy all the photos? View them on this page.

Enigmatic Nebula

Astronomers still have unanswered questions about the Bubble Nebula. Thus, it is a mystery why the star is not exactly in the center of the nebula. How is it possible that the nebula formed in this way? That is still a mystery at the moment.

An end of an era

The Hubble Space Telescope has now been active for 22 years. To this day, billions of people enjoy the beautiful pictures of this telescope. The end of this telescope is approaching, but fortunately there is a spiritual successor: the James Webb telescope. The first-ever color photos of James Webb are expected in early July. Hopefully this telescope will provide as spectacular images as Hubble.