Apod 2.6

This is a complex nebula. Scientists aren't quite sure what has caused this star to expand into such an unusual shape. Nebulae normally expand in normal shapes like spheres, double lobes, rings, or helices. Astronomers believe that this dying star is part of a binary star system with a precessing symmetry axis.

Biography Sources

http://messier.seds.org/xtra/Bios/wcbond.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/72793/William-Cranch-Bond

Apod 2.5

This is a picture of a gas cloud created by the M33 galaxy. The gas cloud is composed of dense internal knots which form stars. The gas cloud is so large, that is is able to form a global cluster.

Apod 2.4

This is an image of the Hercules A galaxy. It contains an active super-massive blackhole at its center. Astronomers believe that it is the black hole that causes the "jets" shown in this image. Some of these plasma "jets" can be over one million light years long. Hercules A's central galaxy, 3C 348 is one thousand times bigger than our Milky Way galaxy.

Objects for Stargaze

Altair
Polaris
Algol
Fomalhaut

Double Cluster
M31
M42

M81
Andromedae
61 Cygni