At its brightness of visual magnitude 7.5 and diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible in binoculars[4] and is a popular observing target in amateur telescopes.

The Dumbbell Nebula appears shaped like a prolate spheroid and is viewed from our perspective along the plane of its equator.

In 1992, Moreno-Corral et al. computed that its rate of expansion angularly was, viewed from our distance, no more than 2.3 arcseconds (″) per century.

Given its semi-minor axis radius of 1.01 ly, this implies that the kinematic age of the nebula is 9,800 years.

[6] The Dumbbell nebula can be easily seen in binoculars in a dark sky, just above the small constellation of Sagitta.