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Above you'll find yet another amazing astronomy photo. is a hauntingly beautiful bubble suspended in space, at the heart of which beats a star whose violent winds and radiation have expanded the shell. The photo was taken by French astrophotographer Eric Mouquet using a long exposure with hydrogen alpha light, useful in these instances since nebulae consist primarily of hydrogen.
You can see the Bubble Nebula with a telescope if you look near Cassiopeia, an Ethiopian queen cast into the sky as punishment for her vanity after she claimed her beauty surpassed that of the sea nymphs. Her attempts to appease Poseidon and his hungry sea monster (by chaining her daughter Andromeda to a rock) were foiled, so her punishment was to spend eternity chained to her throne circling the North Pole, dangling upside down six months of the year. Her husband Cepheus follows her. Both are visible from the northern hemisphere year-round, but late autumn is the best time to see them. Check around 9pm, when the sky is good and dark, and you can see the upended queen and her husband slowly passing through space, biding time by blowing bubbles until she finally understands the meaning of humility.
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