Commonly known as the dumbbell nebula, M27 was the first planetary nebula to be discovered. It is a shell of gas that was expelled from the nebula's central star. This object gets the name "dumbbell" from its hourglass, or dumbbell-like shape. Its distance is estimated to be about 1,250 light years from Earth. A 13th magnitude star at the center of the nebula illuminates it from within. M27 is the brightest and most impressive object of its kind, and with a magnitude of 7.4