Some see this as an unusual bubble, some see in it as a balloon shaped face with eyes aglow and faint smiling lips. Really, it is the power of starlight and a high speed solar wind blowing off the bright star, known as BD+602522. The intensity of the this huge star clears out, pushes, and compresses the gas that surrounds it into the bubble shaped shell. High energy starlight from the star ionizes the shell as well as the gasses seen further out to the right, causing them all to glow red hot. Our own sun and solar system reside in a cleared out area (which has made it a much safer place for us, and our astronauts to be) that was cleared out billions of years ago by similar stars and forces. The Bubble Nebula is about 10 light-years across and 11,000 light years away, and is part of a much larger complex of stars and glowing gas. The Bubble Nebula is visible with a small telescope near the constellation of Cassiopeia.

10" F6.3 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope with light pollution filter, Canon 40D camera at Prime Focus
8 photos, each of 480 sec exposure at ISO 1600
Averaged together, then brightness, color, and contrast enhanced