UPDATE:  SOLVED at 12:11 CDT by Dwight

Cheers, all.  Hope you’ve had a good week since I last puzzled you.  I’ll try to do it again.  I know; I have an evil streak.

Today’s object (yes, you’ll be looking for an object) is so familiar to everyone, you can guess it even if you haven’t been a blog reader and this is your first riddle attempt.  That’s the trip-up for the people who are used to the riddles; so don’t over-look the obvious.  Ready?  Okay…

NASA/ESA Hubble image of IRAS 05437+2502... No, it's not the answer, it's a clue.

This object is thought of as one thing… and it is one thing… mostly.

It used to be much smaller than it is now.

It’s not finished.

There are two little surprises at the center of this wonder.

One of the surprises is responsible.

This absolutely horrified our ancestors…

… and then it was forgotten.

When it was rediscovered, it was something different.

Now it carries the designation of “number one”.

It makes an appearance in modern literature and games.

This used to be visible to the unaided eye, but no longer.

In the northern hemisphere, you must search the winter sky to find this.

That should do it.  I’ve given you a lot of clues today, but watch out.  Sometimes a lot of information isn’t quite as helpful as it looks.  Still, this is a fun little brain-buster, and should only be up a few minutes, so get your guess in!

(when two phobias collide)