Continuing our series of student observations, here’s the Dumbbell nebula, by Karla Garcia ’21 .
Karla explains “The Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula located in the Vulpecula constellation. A planetary nebula consists of a shell of ionized gas surrounding an aging star, which ejects said gas in the late stages of its life. The images were taken from 9:45 pm to 12:00 am on September 30th, 2020, from the 16” telescope at the Strawbridge Observatory in Haverford, PA. Three filters were used: the OIII filter corresponds to the green layer, the Halpha filter corresponds to the red layer, and the infrared filter corresponds to the white layer. The green layer shows the high ionization of oxygen in the nebula, the red layer shows the ionized hydrogen which is due to the the Dumbbell Nebula’s hot blue central star, and the infrared filter shows the intense ultraviolet radiation from the central star (whose temperature is 85,000 Kelvin) and gives the nebula image its dumbbell shape.”