Object: The Dumbbell Nebula M27
Date: 8/15/09
Location: ASLC dark sky site near Upham, NM
Cameras: Modified Canon 350XT DSLR using an Orion 190mm Mak-Newt reflector @ f/5.3
Mount/Guiding: G11 and DSI/PHD using a WO 66mm refractor and 2x barlow lens mounted side by side
Exposure:  2x5min @ ISO 800
Processing: Processed in ImagesPlus and Photoshop.
Comments: This is a beautiful planetary nebula, the remnant of a dying star. This growing gas cloud was the outer shell of a collapsing star that was blown off in a tremendous explosion. A small highly compressed white dwarf star is left at the center the cloud. The Dumbbell's diameter is estimated to be about 2 1/2 light years and it's distance at somewhere between 490 and 980 light-years. Unfortunatley autoguiding problems prevented me from capturing more than 10 minutes of data for this image but I wanted to post it anyway to show the perfoermance of the 190 Mak-Newt using a large sensor. Click here for a full scale image. 

© Dave Dockery 2009