M27, The Dumbbell Nebula

[crimbfighter]

M27, the Dumbbell Nebula! This is a very bright planetary nebula 1.44 light years across and located about 1360 light years from Earth. Imaged from my Bortle 5/6 back yard on 7/18. I was really happy with how much of the butterfly wings I captured imaging it this time.

-Celestron AVX mount
-Astro-Tech AT130EDT 130mm f/7 telescope with a 0.8x reducer, making it a 728mm focal length, f/5.6 scope.
-ZWO ASI2600MC Pro cooled camera
-ZWO EAF focuser
-Optolong L-Extreme dual narrowband filter
-Pegasus Astro Mini Powerbox
-Orion 60mm guide scope
-Orion Starshoot autoguider
-Controlled with a MeLE Quieter3Q mini PC running Windows

Software
-Sequence Generator Pro for acquisition
-PixInsight and Photoshop for image processing
-PHD2 guiding software

-86 x 180sec subexposures
-calibrated with 15 each darks, flats, and dark flats
-Total integration time of 4.3hrs

 

[jeffashman]

Absolutely wonderful!

 

[Jeff15]

Another amazing image....

 

[terri]

That's crazy beautiful!

I was really happy with how much of the butterfly wings I captured imaging it this time.

They are clearly visible, but what causes this, exactly? Strange looking phenomenon! Dust particles?

 

[crimbfighter]

Absolutely wonderful!

Thanks!

Another amazing image....

Thank you!

 

[crimbfighter]

That's crazy beautiful!


They are clearly visible, but what causes this, exactly? Strange looking phenomenon! Dust particles?

It's basically hot, ionized gas that is being ionized to emit light from radiation emmited from a dying red giant star. Here is a more in depth explanation of planetary nebulae.

Planetary Nebula

esahubble.org

 

[terri]

Great link, with more pics! Thanks!

It shows that it's even more incredible that you were able to capture this much detail. Awesome work!

 

[slat]

Stunning image.