Mouseover: RGB Palette SHO Palette
The Dumbbell Nebula in LRGB and Narrowband (SHO) palettes. Click image for full size version.
| Common Name | Dumbbell Nebula | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Formal Name | M 27 / NGC 6853 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 5/26-6/6/2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constellation | Vulpecula | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | BrewSky Observatory, Casa Grande, AZ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Equipment | Celestron Edge/11, SBig STF8300M, St-i Guider, Astrodon filters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temperature | −5°C | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exposures |
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| Processing | Calibrated in Maxim/DL Aligned, processed with PixInsight. RGB uses the normal LRGB pallette. SHO uses L with SHO palette. |
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| Notes | The Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light-years.
This object was the first planetary nebula to be discovered; by Charles Messier in 1764. Like many nearby planetary nebulae, the Dumbbell contains knots. Its central region is marked by a pattern of dark and bright cusped knots and their associated dark tails. The knots vary in appearance from symmetric objects with tails to rather irregular tail-less objects. Similarly to the Helix Nebula and the Eskimo Nebula, the heads of the knots have bright cusps which are local photoionization fronts. The central star, a white dwarf, is estimated to have a radius which is 0.055±0.02 R☉ which gives it a size larger than any other known white dwarf. The central star mass was estimated in 1999 by Napiwotzki to be 0.56±0.01 M☉. |