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Dumbbell Nebula (M27)
Dumbbell Nebula (M27)
The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) in Vulpecula is one of the brightest and most well-known planetary nebulae, but it's surprisingly compact—especially when framed with a wide-field setup like my Redcat 51mm f/4.9 and ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro.
Capturing it from Bortle 6/7 skies in Portsmouth with the Optolong L-eNhance filter, due to the nebula’s relatively small angular size (~8 arcminutes), I had to crop the image significantly to focus attention on the core structure and bring out finer details.
Technical DetailsObject: Dumbbell Nebula (M27)Location: Portsmouth, UKMount: SW Alt Az EQBortle Scale: 7Scope: Redcat 51mmCamera ZWO 2600 Colour (-10) with Optolong L-eNhance Tri-Band Deep Sky Imaging Filter Nights: 15 & 17 June 2025. Starting at 00:40Total Subs Used: 135 x 120Secs. Rotation: 128.5Fits Stacked: Astro Pixel Processor
M27 - Dumbbell
M27 - Dumbbell
The Dumbbell Nebula, also known as the Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, and NGC 6853, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Vulpecula, approximately 1,360 light-years away. Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, it holds the distinction of being the first planetary nebula ever identified. With a visual magnitude of 7.5 and a diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible through binoculars and is a popular target for amateur astronomers using telescopes.
Object: M27
Location: Portsmouth, UK
Mount: Alt Az
Bortle Scale: 7
Nights: 25th May, 16 & 17th July 2024
Total Subs Used: 952 x 10 Subs
Seeing: Clear
Fits Stacked: Siril
Post-Processing Steps
1. GraXpert - Background extraction and Denoise v2.0
2. Siril - colour calibration, photometric colour calibration, removing green noise, GHST, colour saturation.
3. Lightroom
M27 - Dumbbell
M27 - Dumbbell
The Dumbbell Nebula, also known as the Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, and NGC 6853, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Vulpecula, approximately 1,360 light-years away. Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, it holds the distinction of being the first planetary nebula ever identified. With a visual magnitude of 7.5 and a diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible through binoculars and is a popular target for amateur astronomers using telescopes.
Object: M27
Location: Portsmouth, UK
Mount: Alt Az
Bortle Scale: 7
Total Session Time: 10 Minutes
Nights: 25th May 2024
Total Subs Used: 64 x 10 Subs
Seeing: High Cloud
Fits Stacked: Siril
Post-Processing Steps
1. GraXpert - Background extraction and Denoise v2.0
2. Siril - colour calibration, photometric colour calibration, removing green noise, colour calibration, histogram stretch, colour saturation.
M27 - Dumbbell
M27 - Dumbbell
Doubled the subs. Played around with colours, and saturation levels in Siril and Light room.
Object: M27
Location: Portsmouth, UK
Mount: Alt Az
Bortle Scale: 7
Nights: Various nights in July 2024
Total Subs Used: 1819 x 10 Subs
Seeing: Clear
Fits Stacked: Siril
Post-Processing Steps
1. GraXpert - Background extraction and Denoise v2.0
2. Siril - colour calibration, photometric colour calibration, removing green noise, colour calibration, histogram stretch, colour saturation.
3. Lightroom
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