The more I read about NGC2261 (Hubble’s Variable Nebula) the more interesting it becomes. For example, the ‘star’ at the tip of the nebula isn’t a star, but a compact nebula hiding a very active binary system that appears to be casting shadows up onto the nebula that can change in matter of days and weeks. I had hoped to obtain enough images this year to put together an animation of the changes, but this winter has been just awful for imaging. However, shown below is a section of the luminance image captured over a year ago on 1-20-09 with one taken on 3-6-10. If you blink the two images it appears that the ‘notch’ on the left side of the nebula folds over to form the arch arcing over the star at the southern tip of the nebula. The fixed background nebula also becomes easy to see. For a really neat animation take a peek at…

http://www.umanitoba.ca/science/astronomy/cbrown/imaging/hvn/hvnanimation.html

-John