Commonly known as the Dumbbell Nebula, M27
was the first planetary nebula to be discovered. It is a shell
of gas that was expelled from the nebula's central star. This
object gets the name "dumbbell" from its hourglass, or
dumbbell-like shape. Its distance is estimated to be about 1,250
light-years from Earth. A 13th magnitude star at the center of
the nebula illuminates it from within. M27 is the brightest and
most impressive object of its kind, and with a magnitude of 8.1
can be easily seen using any optical instrument.
