M27 (NGC 6853)
Also known as the Dumbbell Nebula, M27 is located in the constellation Vulpecula
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M27 was the first planetary nebula discovered. Messier found it and John Herschel christened it the Dumbbell Nebula. Age range estimates are all over the board, from 3-48,000 years old. Distance is about 1200 light years.
Image credit: www.mistisoftware.com/astronomy/
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Three color composite image. The bright green glow is from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. M27 is a binary system. The central star is an extremely hot bluish subdwarf star.
Image credit: ESO
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Infrared view of M27. The green is the superheated double-ionized oxygen atoms while the red represents hydrogen.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/J. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), of the Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera
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Messier 27
Interesting history of the Dumbbell Nebula as well as an explanation of what you are looking at and how to best find it in the night sky. -
Multiwavelength Messier 27
Images of M27 in different wavelengths - x-ray, visible light, near, mid and far-infrared and radio. -
Subdwarf
M27's main star is a subdwarf but what exactly does that mean?
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