M76
Little Dumbbell
Little Dumbbell
| NGC 650/651, the Little Dumbbell Planetary Nebula in Perseus, was discovered in 1780, and added to the Messier catalog shortly thereafter as M76. Also sometimes referred to as the Barbell Nebula, Butterfly Nebula or Cork Nebula. The exact distance to M76 is in dispute, ranging from 1,500 light years to as many as 15,000. Weather conditions over the past several weeks have made it difficult to obtain data on M76. Perhaps next year Ha-SII-O[III] data can be collected. January 15, 17, 18 & 31, February 7, 2010 Camera: SBIG STL6303E Filters: AstroDon LRGB Camera control software: CCDSoft Guiding/adaptive optics: AO-L Camera temperature: -20C Image Acquisition Software: CCDAP4 Telescope: RCOS 16 Carbon Tube, Aries optics, F9 with Field Flattener Telescope control software: RCOS TCC, TheSky6 Mount: Paramount ME (MKS 4000) Subexposures: Luminance: 20 x 10 minute, unbinned RGB: 5 x 5 minute & 7 x 10 minute Red, Green & Blue binned 2x2 Conditions: Humid, variable seeing, intermittent clouds. Processing: CCDStack and Photoshop CS4. Image appeared in August 2010 issue of Astronomy Magazine. |
Central double star
in Luminance image
in Luminance image
