M27 The Dumbbell Nebula
Summer in the UK, well sort of, there’s not many summer astronomical targets to look at and it doesn’t really get that dark. But there are one or two decent targets to view like this shot of the planetary nebula M27 The Dumbbell Nebula. This was the first planetary nebula to be found and one of the brightest and easiest to see in a telescope and binoculars. Located approx 1300 light years distant in the lesser known constellation Vulpecula, its found easier by sweeping up from the star Altair up to the Cygnus constellation, or sweeping through the ‘summer triangle’ asterism comprising the stars Altair, Deneb and Vega. This shot is composed of 10 minutes sub exposures stacked together and adjusted in Photoshop.
