M27 - Dumbell Nebula

Large Image (broadband required)

M27 - Dumbell Nebula Planetary Nebulae

Despite their name, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets. They were named originally because their discoverers observed them visually and they did not appear as stellar point sources, but rather as small diffuse objects that resembled the outer planets in our solar system such as Uranus and Neptune when seen in a telescope.  

Planetary nebula are shells of gas shed by stars late in their life cycles after using up all of their nuclear fuel. The star then ejects a significant portion of its mass in a gaseous shell, which is illuminated by its extremely hot central star, which was just the core left from the original star. Eventually, our own star, the Sun, is expected to undergo the same process . The nebula itself, which extends to 15 arc minutes in size at it's faintest extensions, half the size of the full moon, is second in size only to the Helix Nebula..

Date:  07-14-2004

Telescope: RC10" (.75x reducer)        Camera:ST8XE                

Exposure Time: LRGB 40min 1x1bin ;25min;25min;25min; 2x2bin

Processing: Flats, Darks, etc; Maxim, Abobe combined