In this unusual image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures a rare view of the celestial equivalent of a geode ? a gas cavity carved by the stellar wind and intense ultraviolet radiation from a young hot star.

Real geodes are handball-sized, hollow rocks that start out as bubbles in volcanic or sedimentary rock. Only when these inconspicuous round rocks are split in half by a geologist, do we get a chance to appreciate the inside of the rock cavity that is lined with crystals. In the case of Hubble's 35 light-year diameter ?celestial geode? theÿtransparency of its bubble-like cavity of interstellar gas and dust reveals the treasures of its interior.

Credit: ESA/NASA, Y„el Naz‚ (University of LiŠge, Belgium) and You-Hua Chu (University of Illinois, Urbana, USA)