🔭 M76 — Little Dumbbell Nebula

Planetary nebula in Perseus

M76, Little Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Perseus, with an apparent magnitude of about 10.1, roughly 2.5 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M76
Common name	Little Dumbbell Nebula
Object type	Planetary nebula
Constellation	Perseus
NGC / IC	NGC 650
Apparent magnitude	10.1
Distance (approx.)	2.5 thousand light-years

What a planetary nebula is

Not a planet at all: the glowing shell of gas a sun-like star sheds at the end of its life, its exposed hot core lighting the cast-off envelope blue-green.

Other Messier objects in Perseus: M34.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.