M27, the Dumbbell nebula -- detail image, darker. Photo by Ari Heinze

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Messier 27, also called the Dumbell Nebula, is the shell of gas expelled by a dying, sunlike star. Stars much more massive than our sun die in violent supernova explosions -- and leave behind a very different-looking cloud of expanding gas. This image is trimmed to zoom in on the nebula, and scaled to render the nebula less bright.

Date/Time	August 2010
Equipment	20" Obsession Telescope on equatorial platform
Settings	SBIG ST8 CCD
Image processing	Dark subtraction, flatfielding, RGB level adjustment, cropping.
Dimensions have not been changed
Focus	Fair: telescope collimation was slightly imperfect.
Motion blur	Low.
Image noise	Moderate: typical for the film-speed setting.
Other technical comments	None.

Copyright 2011 Ari Heinze: all rights reserved.

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