Telescope: Light Switch 8 @ f/10, altaz mode
Camera: Stock Canon 600D, interval timer
Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter
Guide scope: None
Exposure: 17x10sec + 20x15sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW
Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)
Flats: 32×1/25sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk
Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency, windy
Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.4
Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.
White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic
Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop
M27, the Dumbbell nebula, is an expanding shell of gas that was ejected from a sun-like star as it exhausted its hydrogen fuel. Swollen into a red giant, the star shed its outer shell while its core collapsed into a white dwarf. Fierce UV radiation from the collapsed core sets the surrounds gas aglow with the blue/green light of doubly ionized oxygen. The diameter of the nebula is about 1 light-year with an estimated age of 9,800 years. Located between Sagitta and Cygnus, M27 is fairly easy to find with a small telescope. Visually, it shows two lobes connected by a neck of nebulosity, giving the nebula its characteristic dumbbell shape.
This is one of a series of images that I have been taking to explore using relatively simple equipment and techniques. This is one of a short series of images taken with my Light Switch 8 at its native f/10 focal length. It was a bit windy while I was taking this image set so I combined images taken with 10 second and 15 second exposures to get as much as I could. This is a good example of how every image doesn’t have to be an over-the-top Hubble runner up. This is more about being able to see deepsky objects from my backyard with fairly basic kit.
M27 is currently in the southwest at sunset.