Mapped color: H-a = red; OIII - B = G; blended in RGB for stars

The link below shows a wonderful view of the complex taken with narrowband filters at Gemini South on the next ridge south of CTIO only 14 km away, and was awarded an Astronomical Picture of the Day (APOD) on February 6, 2006.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060206.html

Additional narrowband composite images from La Silla taken by the European Southern Observatory about 150 km north of CTIO is at:

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2003/phot-31-03.html

N44 is a large HII region in the LMC about 170,000 light years distant with the size of the "hole" about 250 light years across. The large, bluish-white stars in the center of the ring or bubble create enormous stellar winds and form the giant bubble. These stars generally end up exploding as supernovae.  It is likely that some of these star have in fact exploded as supernovae, helping to clean out the gases in the central part of the bubble.  An X-ray source was found near the center of the bubble, supporting a supernova origin.