PLANETARY NEBULAE

Messier 57, the Ring Nebula, in the constellation of Lyra is probably the most photographed planetary nebula in the sky. It is a favorite summer time target for stargazers. These objects are the remains of sunlike stars which have come to a late stage in their life cycle and have blown away their outer envelopes, leaving behind planet-sized white dwarf stars at their centers. More on planetary nebulae here. Precise distances to planetary nebula can sometimes be difficult to calculate. It is thought that the Ring Nebula is between 1,410 - 4,100 light years away, with a more recent estimate being 2,300 light years (with a 40% uncertainty!). The Ring Nebula has a visual magnitude of 8.8, with a 12th magnitude star (just visible in the image) just about in the center of the ring.

This is an object I hope to revisit to gather more data. This image was taken with a Celestron 8” Edge HD telescope and a Canon T5i DSLR. Techy details and capture information can be found here.