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Dumbbell Nebula

This is the Dumbbell Nebula - basically a star (like our Sun) at the end of its life shedding off shells of gas. These are also known as planetary nebula because they looked like planets by early astronomers. The picture was taken with the micro-observatory telescopes through red, green and blue filters and combined in their simple to use java applet. Very cool and easy to use intro for budding astrophotographers. You should notice a bi-lobed - weight lifting dumbbell style shape in the nebula.

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Uploaded on November 19, 2009