I’ve posted images of this lovely planetary nebula at least a couple of times in the past two months. I think that this is my final image for this season. M27, the Dumbbell, is a planetary nebula like the “Southern Ring” nebula featured in one of the James Webb telescope’s debut images. If you missed seeing those images from the orbital infrared telescope today, take a moment to see them here – they’re breathtaking!
This image of M27 is the composite of 39, 6-minute images taken from photo sessions spanning mid-June to the first week of July 2022. The telescope is my backyard 130mm astrograph fitted with a quadband, narrowband filter. The camera, a stock Canon 6D Mark II, was set to ISO 1600.
If you look carefully, you can see the star in the center of the nebula that is its source. That dying star has cast out its outer gaseous shell as it collapses in on itself.
I think that if one is going to die, this is as glorious way to go as any.
