SUPERCEDED-NEWER VERSION AVAILABLE---M27 - the Dumbbell Nebula - May 2011 version
SUPERCEDED-NEWER VERSION AVAILABLE---M27 - the Dumbbell Nebula - May 2011 version
SUPERCEDED-NEWER VERSION AVAILABLE---M27 - the Dumbbell Nebula - May 2011 version
M27, the Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula - a nebula created as a star is reaching its final days. As the star starts to burn out, it blows off a shell of gas. As this gas expands, it is heated by the star and shines. We see this shell as a planetary nebula.

In this photo, you can easily see the star that created the Dumbbell - it is the star that is exactly at the center of the nebula. M27 is an easy object in a telescope, as it shines brightly at magnitude 7.5 and is relatively large at about 8' wide (about 1/4 of the moon's apparent diameter).

In this image, North is Up. This image is cropped to 63% of the original full frame.

Exposure Details
Lens Celestron C-8 SCT with Lumicon telecompressor
Focal Length 1100mm
Focal Ratio f/5.5
 
Mount Schaefer GEM - 7 1/2
Guiding Unguided
 
Camera Canon 20Da
Exposure 77 subexposures of 45 seconds each at ISO 1600 - total of just under 1 Hour
Calibration 30 darks, 30 flats, 30 bias
 
Date May 6, 2011
Temperature
SQM Reading
Seeing 4 of 5
Location Pine Mountain Club, California
 
Software Used Images Plus 4.0 for camera control, calibration, stacking and digital development. Photoshop CS5 used for color correction, shadows and highlights, star shrinking, saturation adjustments, unsharp mask, and highpass filter. Noise Ninja for noise reduction.
Notes I'm fairly happy with this exposure, although the telescope had a very fogged secondary mirror, and the collimation needed correction. The star density is very good, and I'm very pleased with the color saturation.

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SUPERCEDED-NEWER VERSION AVAILABLE---M27 - the Dumbbell Nebula - October 2011 version