The Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula, marking the demise of a sun-like star and shedding material in ever-expanding shells, over almost 10,000 years. It is around 1350 lightyears distant.
This RGBHOO image is unusual, in being the result of 30 hours of data capture from two telescope and camera systems. It shows the fainter outer shells of material, not usually imaged.
A total of 25 hours of RGB, Ha and OIII data was captured from Horsham, over 9 evenings in September 2025. A ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera was used, through an 8-inch Teleskop-Service Ritchey-Chretien reflector.
Five hours of Ha and OIII data was also remotely captured from a dark-sky site in Utah, over 5 evenings in October and November 2025. An FLI PL6303E CCD camera was used, through a 17-inch Planewave CDK reflector.
The data was then merged and processed together in Astropixelprocessor.
Date: 10/11/2025
Location: Horsham, West Sussex
Photographer: Graham Wilcock
