The Dumbbell Nebula
Image details:
It is somewhat ironic that the deaths of stars can be some of the most beautiful spectacles in the sky. Here we see the Dumbbell Nebula, the remains of a star not unlike our sun, its outer layers flung off into space and illuminated by the hot but fading ember of the original star. This remnant appears here as the small, blue star at the center of the nebula. Having run out of hydrogen "fuel," it shines only by the heat leftover from its life as a true star. Over a period of thousands of years, the nebula will expand and dissipate, and the stellar remnant will cool and fade from visibility.
Technical details:
Optics: 8" inch SCT
Mount: Celestron AVX
Guiding: Orion starshoot autoguider using PHSD2
Camera: Canon 60D primfocused
Date/location: November 8-2017 at my Backyard Country Observatory
Exposures: Lights 6X240sec iso-1600, darks 50, bias 20
Processing: Images Plus, Pixlnsight, Photoshop cs5
It is somewhat ironic that the deaths of stars can be some of the most beautiful spectacles in the sky. Here we see the Dumbbell Nebula, the remains of a star not unlike our sun, its outer layers flung off into space and illuminated by the hot but fading ember of the original star. This remnant appears here as the small, blue star at the center of the nebula. Having run out of hydrogen "fuel," it shines only by the heat leftover from its life as a true star. Over a period of thousands of years, the nebula will expand and dissipate, and the stellar remnant will cool and fade from visibility.
Technical details:
Optics: 8" inch SCT
Mount: Celestron AVX
Guiding: Orion starshoot autoguider using PHSD2
Camera: Canon 60D primfocused
Date/location: November 8-2017 at my Backyard Country Observatory
Exposures: Lights 6X240sec iso-1600, darks 50, bias 20
Processing: Images Plus, Pixlnsight, Photoshop cs5
