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Planetary nebula

These are the visual proof of an exploding star, with the different layers of the star beeing thrown out in space. The apperance can be very different, depending on at which angel you are observing from. Typical forms is the donut-shape (like M57) or the manual-shape (like M27), but the diversity is broad and almost any shapes and colours can be seen. The colours comes from ultraviolet rays, which excitates hydrogen and oxygen atoms, making them positively charged. You can find the same prosess in neonlights and fluorecents lighttubes.

Planetary nebula is often related to the final stages of stars becoming red gigants. Most stars with a density up to 1.4 solar masses, develop into red gigants, which produse planetary nebula and at last, a white dwarf. Larger stars may form neutron-stars (with a diameter of 30-50km and an astronishing high density), or even black holes.

Planetary nebula is rarely visible for more than 30.000 years, a short time in cosmical scale.

M76. R200SS. Canon 20D, 4x90sec. 800 ISO. 2005-10-24
M57. R200SS. Canon 20D, 4x1 minutes. Unguided.
M97. R200SS. Canon D60, 5 minutes. Unguided.
M27. R200SS. Canon D60, 5 minutes. Unguided.
M27. R200SS. Canon D60, 4x90sec. Unguided.