M27 - The Dumbbell nebula

Designations:	M27, NGC 6583
Object Type:	Planetary Nebula
Constellation:	Vulpecula
RA:	19 hr 59.6 min	Dec:	+22° 43 min
Magnitude:	7.3	Size:	8.0 X 5.7 arcminutes
Distance:	815 light years
Discoverer:	Messier 1764

"The August sky contains many delightful planetary nebulae - ephemeral spheres of blue and green gas that float amid the pearly star currents of the Milky Way. Certainly one of the most observed is the Dumbbell nebula, M27 in Vulpecula".[1] "M27, the most famous of planetary nebulae, got its nickname many years after its discovery from its resemblance to a bodybuilder's hand weight. M27 is one of the closer planetaries (815 light years away) and its physical diameter of 1.2 light years also makes it one of the larger. The gaseous material was blown from the blue-dwarf star now at its center during one of the star's death throes 48,000 years ago which makes M27 more than twice as old as typical planetaries. M27 is a multiple-shell planetary. One shell, of doubly ionized oxygen, is expanding at a velocity of 9 miles per second, while another shell, of ionized nitrogen, is expanding at 20 miles per second. From our vantage point, the whole gaseous ring is swelling 6 sec per century. The gas shells glow from excitation by ultra-violet radiation emitted by the hot central star." [2]

Telescope:	TMB 152mm APO Refractor
Focal Length:	1200
Mount:	Mountain Instruments MI-250
Camera	SBIG ST10XME
Guider:	SBIG ST402ME
Exposures:	80 minutes luminance, 40 minutes for each color (red, green and blue)
Location:	Prairie Grass Observatory
Software:	CCDSoft (Image Acquisition), CCDStack, Photoshop