While most planetary nebulae are small and beautiful, there is no doubt that the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) is something special. Found by Charles Messier in July 1764, M27 was the first planetary nebula ever discovered. He described it as a “nebula without star … oval in shape.”
Decades later, John Herschel remarked it resembled “a nebula shaped like a dumbbell,” a nickname that stuck. He also subsequently coined a second nickname when he wrote it is “shaped so