M27 is commonly known as the "Dumbbell" or "Apple-core" nebula, due to its shape. It is a planetary nebula – the last stage in a star’s lifetime – located about 1000 light years away. M27 is a few thousand years old, and was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764.
The interesting bipolar shape is probably the result of several solar winds emanating from the dying star: a slow "superwind" (10 km/s) first created a large ring of gas around the star’s equator, then a faster wind (1000 km/s) began when the star's core was exposed. The second solar wind spreads more at the poles because it is stopped by the ring created by the first wind. Professional telescopes show several elliptical shells.
M27 is about 1.5 light years in diameter.
This image was created using the raw FITS images made available free of charge by Jim Misti and his Misti Mountain Observatory. The equipment used: 32" Ritchey-Chretien Telescope and SBIG STL-11000m CCD camera. Processed with MaximDL 5 and Photoshop CS2. 30 Minutes Luminance and 15 Minutes each RGB.
It is amazing to me how such a large telescope and very dark skies can create such amazing images with relatively very short exposure times.
