Located in Carina RCW 58 is an impressive emission ring nebula which is effectively an expanding bubble created by ejecta from the massive Wolf-Rayet star WR 40. WR 40 gives off huge amounts of ultraviolet radiation which ionize the gases of the nebula surrounding it. The ring surrounding WR 40 is primarily Hydrogen gas, but as can be seen in this deep image there is a faint outer shell of Oxygen III gas glowing blue.
Imaged in Ha OIII and RGB on our Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image Processing: Mike Selby and Mark Hanson