The Universe is full of some wonderful objects. On Sunday Feb. 3/08 I observed a type called a Herbig-Haro object. Herbig-Haro objects are nebulae seen around protostars and are caused by the plasma ejections of the young star colliding with interstellar gas and dust. For a more complete definition and information regarding these objects see this Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbig-Haro_object

Using my f/5 12.5 inch truss dobsonian telescope at 456X, Herbig-Haro 1 and 2 were still only seen as stellar objects. This much power was needed to hold them with averted vision 100% of the time. At 365X they were only visible about 50% of the time with averted vision. To add interest to the view is the fact that they are just a few arc minutes away from the small but interesting reflection nebula, NGC 1999. What makes NGC 1999 so interesting is that within it is a Bok Globule. Bok Globules are very dark, dense clouds of gas and dust that obscure the star formation going on inside them. If you read the Wiki article you would have seen that Herbig-Haro objects are often associated with Bok Globules. At even the modest power of around 160 X the Bok Globule was visible within the nebula. Here is a sketch of how I saw the three objects.