Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble is much larger than the dolphin it appears to be.

Catalogued as Sharpless 2-308, but often referred to as the Dolphin Nebula, it lies some 5,200 light-years away toward the constellation of Canis Major and covers slightly more of the sky than a full Moon.

The massive star that created the bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright one near the centre of the nebula.

Relatively faint emission captured in this image is dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atoms mapped to a blue hue.

Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile
Data Source: Telescope Live