Messier 27 is known as the Dumbbell Nebula or Apple Core Nebula. It is a spectacular planetary nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula. Large and bright, M27 is one of the finest examples of a planetary nebula in the night sky.

M27's distance and age are not well known with estimates of its age varying from 3,000 to 48,000 years, and its distance from 800 to 3,500 light-years. Current best informed guesses put M27 at a distance of 1,200 to 1,300 light-years with an age of 10,000 years.

The central star that illuminates M27 shines at magnitude 13.5 and is an extremely hot blue subdwarf. Its radius is the largest known for a white dwarf.

M27 was the first planetary nebula discovered. It was discovered by Charles Messier on July 12, 1764 and added as the 27th object in his catalog.

M27 shines with a visual magnitude of 7.4 and has an apparent size of 8 x 5.7 arcminutes. At a distance of 1,200 light-years, this would correspond to a true size of 3 light-years in space.

A dwarf nova can also be seen in the image. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see its location. It was discovered on August 17/18, 2005 by Joerg Hanisch (Germany) and Hans-Goeran Lindberg (Sweden), just a couple of days before this image was taken on August 22, 2005.

The dwarf nova is not inside of M27, but probably much farther away, just lining up along the same line of sight with M27 by chance. It appears to have risen in brightness by at least 9 magnitudes, and was brighter than 16th magnitude when the image was taken.

North is to the top in the above image.

Messier 27 Catalogs: M27, NGC 6853 Common Names: Dumbbell Nebula Apple Core Nebula Diablo Nebula Double-Headed Shot Object Type: Planetary Nebula Magnitude: 7.4v Size: 8.25' x 6.5' Constellation: Vulpecula Image Field Centered At: RA: 19h 59m 36s Dec: +22° 43' 16"