by Diego Barucco

NGC 6853
"Dumbell Nebula"
"Apple Core Nebula "
"Diabolo Nebula"
"Double Headed Shot"
M27

J2000
RA: 19h 59m 36,06s
Dec: +22° 43' 00,4 "
Mag. 7,60
Surface bright: 11,47
Dim.: 480 " x 340 "
Central star : 13,94
Constellation: Vulpecula

Discovery: Charles Messier 12 lug. 1764
Distance: 0,26 kpc
Radius: 0,216 pc

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NGC 6853, also known as M 27, is one of the most famous and important PN in the whole night sky.
It's second only to the Helix Nebula for its high integrated-magnitude, and it's visible simply with binoculars. Small telescopes are already useful to highlight the typical "dumbell" shape, and OIII filters give help to see more particulars. This is a complex bipolar-toroid-nebula, with the central large toroid, and the polar lobes in expansion perpendicularly.
Molecular-hydrogen emission analisys show that the progenitor was probably surrounded by a dense circumstellar disk, trown away by the strong star wind. This nebula is surrounded by a faint comet-shaped halo, showing that Dumbell Nebula has a high relative motion, and it's moving through a very dense interstellar dust region.


Interesting level: *

Essential bibliography
The Global Kinematics of the Dumbbell Planetary Nebula (NGC 6853, M27, PN G060.8-03.6) - Meaburn, J.; Boumis, P.; Christopoulou, P. E.; Goudis, C. D.; Bryce, M.; López, J. A.- Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica Vol. 41, pp. 109-119 (2005)


English traslation: Renzo Ruisi

Update: Giovedì, Dicembre 13, 2007 4:40 PM

 

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