This image is my very first color image taken with the 10" LX200 OTA at f10 using the Takahashi NJP 160 Mount
This image was taken at the Goeth Link Observatory with the 36" Telescope
Name and/or Catalogue Designations:
Designations: M57, NGC 6720
Visual
Magnitude: 8.8
Size: 76 sec diameter
Distance: 1,140 light
years
Discoverer: Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix, 1779
Visual Description: When a star with a
mass similar to that of our sun nears the end of its life, it blows off a shell
of gas that, from our perspective, appears like a ring centered around a dying
star. M57, the Ring Nebula, represents the remains of one such disgorging
episode about 20,000 years ago. The first planetary nebula discovered has worked
its way ever since into the hearts of virtually all telescopic observers. And
rightly so, because no other planetary appears so distinctive in small apertures.
It is a challenging binocular object, well placed in the northern sky about 6
1/2 degrees southeast of brilliant Vega (Alpha [cd Lyrae), and nearly halfway
between the eclipsing binary star Beta Lyrae (whose brightness fluctuates between
magnitude 3.3
and 4.3 every 12.9 days) and 3rd-magnitude Gamma Lyrae. Telescopically, M57's
tiny 9th-magnitude annulus of gray smoke floats against a rich Milky Way field
crisscrossed with dark streamers some of which appear to be as gray and smoky as
the Ring Nebula itself. The "ring" is actually a torus (doughnut-shaped) viewed
looking down the hole. This is unlike the planetary M27, which is seen side on.
The 0.4-light-year-wide gaseous wreath of M57 was likely blown off the white
dwarf central star some 20,000 years ago and is still expanding at a rate of
about 16.5 miles per second or about one arc second per century.
Seeing Conditions:
Not Recorded
Telescope: Meade 10" LX200 OTA and Gothe
Link 36"
Focal
Length: 2500 mm for the Meade
LX200 OTA, unknown for the 36" telescope
Mount: Takahashi NJP 160
Camera: Starlight XPress MX916
Exposure:
several 180 second
exposures
Other: The images were
unguided
Image Processing: The first and second images were taken with the 10" LX200 OTA and the Takahashi NJP 160 mount. The third image was taken at the Goeth Link Observatory in Moresville IN using a 36" telescope. Several 180 second exposures were stacked (averaged) to create a single image. A Richardson-Lucy filter was applied to reduce the tracking error of the telescope
The Visual description of M57 - the Ring Nebula was written by Steven James O'Meara in the book "The Messier Objects" by Stephen James O'Meara. Page. 175. ISBN number 0-521-55332-6.
Copyright(c) 2007 Doug Sanqunetti. All rights reserved
