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The constellation Vulpecula was first introduced by the famous Polish astronomer, Johannes Helvelius, in 1690. Its original name was “Vulpecula cum Ansere” (fox with goose), and depicted a fox with a goose in its mouth, as shown in the illustration above from the Atlas Coelestis of John Flamsteed, published in 1729. In modern astronomy the goose has mysteriously vanished, leaving just the fox. However, the name "Fox and Goose" had such a nice ring to it, it has become a traditional pub name in Britain.
Although Vulpecula is a small, dim constellation, with no particular mythology and no named stars, it does have one major claim to fame: M27, the dumbbell nebula. This cloud of gas thrown off by a dying star is considered the most conspicuous planetary nebula in the sky, easily accessible in a backyard telescope and even visible in a good set of binoculars. The star at the center of the nebula that created this extraordinary cloud has a faint magnitude of 13.5. The nebula itself shines at magnitude 8, and is 900 light years away. It is truly immense, stretching over 2.5 light years across, which is over 4,000 times greater than the distance from the Sun to Pluto. And it is growing ever larger, expanding at the incredible rate of 17 miles per second. M27 is truly a wondrous sight.
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