Located in Corvus, a crow shaped constellation in the southern hemisphere. Galaxies colliding usually do not cause the collision of their component stars; in fact, the probability of star collisions is almost zero; during the milion-year collision between galaxies, however, the gravitational forces of one galaxy can rip apart the other. The colors in this image come from the collision of millions of tiny dust particles withion the galaxies.

The Bubble Nebula is NGC 7635. The picture is taken using Hydrogen-Alpha light emission. The Bubble Nebula is being pushed out by the solar wind from the large central star BD+602522. There is another bubble nebula known as Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359. The stellar wind originates in a star that is probably ten to twenty times more massive than our Sun. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope looking towards the constellation of Cassiopeaia.

Observation- The Last Minute

Just spent about an hour observing to finish off my eight. The Summer Triangle was easy to find but there were a few clouds obscuring my general view. I think I managed to find Sagitarius this time. Everything else was mostly obscured by streetlights and such (though of course I managed to find Pegasus), and I think I located Hercules. Tommorow we'll see if the strange object overhead is there in the morning.
Time- 1 hour.

Observation- October 10

In the morning I again looked at the stars. The smudge was still there so obviously it wasn't some temporary feature; at least, not a really really temporary one. Other stars were pretty dim, but a few were bright enough to make out; Pegasus is easy as always, though I'm not really sure why. Something about a giant square maybe? Other than the summer triangle it seems to be the easiest constellation for me to find.
Time- 30 minutes.

Observation- Like, October 7 Or Something

In the morning I spent like twenty minutes of extra time looking upwards, as it was the only area of the sky I could see reasonably well. I saw Pegasus hanging around somewhere up there, but what really drew my attention was a smudge-like object; not a star, but I don't think there are any galaxies or anything that you can see directly overhead. I tried to logic out what it was but was unable to do so, so I located Ursa Minor just because I could and then went inside.
Time- About 20 minutes

Observation: A Couple Weeks Ago

A while ago I spent about an hour trying to observe outside my house. Ambient light made doing so almost frustrating; after the organized viewing, I realize how much of the sky I can't see normally. The Summer Triangle was fairly visible, but almost none of the other stars around the three. I managed to find Pegasus after orienting myself North, and I viewed what I believe to be Hercules. Strangely, I was unable to make out Sagitarius, probably due to either the nearby streetlights or the Moon reflecting so much light (it was almost full)
Time- 1 Hour

Observation: 9/23/06

I attended the organized obseration, but am only writing about it now. Do not ask questions. Do not ask questions. I showed up around 7:30 or 7:45 and helped set up and we began by observing Jupiter and three of its moons; the others were too small or far away and Io was in transit at the time. We also saw most of the constellations we had learned so far, including Sagitarius (the teapot in particular), Scorpius, Cepheus, Ursa Minor, and the three constellations in the Summer Triangle; we also saw many of the first magnitude stars, including Fomalhaut, a star we had not learned of previously. Most people saw Uranus, though it was very small and barely registered as a smudge of color; Andromeda was a much better view, appearing as a very tiny object despite its size. We also saw the double binary star in Lyra and another binary star, Albireo, in Cygnus. The stars overhead were much clearer due to both their relative brightness and the lack of some atmospheric interference.
Time- 2:30 x 2 - 5 hours, yay.

APOD- NGC 1333

NGC 1333 is seen herea s a reflection nebula. Located near the constellation Perseus, it is home to newly formed stars less than one million years old. The density of gas is great enough to ceatae many different kinds of illumination and emission. Viewing the nebula with an infrared scope reveals newly formed stars that would otherwise be obscured by the clouds. NGC 1333 closely resembles the environment in hich our own Sun formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago.