Dumbbell Nebula (M27)

Dumbbell Nebula (M27) — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Dumbbell Nebula (M27) in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

The glowing gas cast off by a dying Sun-like star over the last ten thousand years, lit by the hot white dwarf left at its centre. From Earth’s side its pieces line up into the VLT image; fly round it and they part into its 3D shape, whose depths are a model.

Type

Planetary nebula

Distance

About 1,270 light-years

Size

About 3 light-years across

Age

About 10,000 years, from its expansion

Discovered

The first planetary nebula found — Charles Messier, 1764

Shown here

The VLT image with its stars removed, cut into many thousands of pieces (fine threads along its filaments, broad ones only for smooth glow) at different depths: from Earth they line up into the image; from elsewhere they show a barrel-shaped shell seen side-on, its bright waist ring edge-on

3D shape

Illustrative, after Meaburn et al. 2005 (its shells and sizes) and Kwok et al. 2008 (the Ring Nebula’s shape seen side-on)

Image credit

ESO/I. Appenzeller, W. Seifert, O. Stahl, M. Zamani · CC BY 4.0

Explore Dumbbell Nebula (M27) in 3D

Dumbbell Nebula (M27) is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.