Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Vulpecula (Vul)  ·  Contains:  Dumbbell nebula  ·  M 27  ·  NGC 6853
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The Dumbbell Nebula, (Messier 27), Randal Healey
The Dumbbell Nebula, (Messier 27)
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The Dumbbell Nebula, (Messier 27)

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The Dumbbell Nebula, (Messier 27), Randal Healey
The Dumbbell Nebula, (Messier 27)
Powered byPixInsight

The Dumbbell Nebula, (Messier 27)

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Description

The Dumbbell Nebula, also known as Messier 27, is a bright, large planetary planetary nebula located in Vulpecula constellation. The nebula lies at a distance of 1,360 light years from Earth. It is sometimes also called the Apple Core Nebula or Diablo Nebula.

The Dumbbell Nebula was the first planetary nebula to be discovered. Charles Messier included it as M27 in his catalogue of deep sky objects in 1764.

Planetary nebulae are the remains of stars similar to our Sun. When they reach the end of their life cycle as evolved red giants, they expel their outer gaseous layers to form the nebula, which is then heated by the hot core of the central white dwarf. This will be the fate of our Sun in roughly five billion years.

The Dumbbell Nebula has an apparent diameter of about 8 arcminutes. It has a visual magnitude of 7.5 and an absolute magnitude of -0.5, which means that the nebula has an intrinsic luminosity roughly 100 times that of the Sun.

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