The glowing cloud of gas and dust in this picture is called a 'Superbubble'. Superbubbles are found in areas where lots of massive stars have formed fairly recently. These baby stars blow out intense winds, and massive stars 'live fast and die young'. They speed through their lives to explode as powerful supernovae. It's these destructive events that have carved out the centre of the cloud, leaving behind just ring of gas and dust.
Credit:
NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/A.E.Jaskot/NOAO/CTIO/MCELS