The Ring Nebula ... Messier 57
(Click on Picture for larger view)
Added April 29, 2019 ...
Messier 57 ... The Ring Nebula
This is the Ring Nebula in Lyra near the star Vega ... in appearance. This nebula is about 2,300 light-years away. It formed when its dying red giant star (see the little dot in the center of the ring) expelled its shell of ionized gas to form the ring, while the star itself became a white dwarf, a dense stellar remnant roughly the size of the Earth. (Will this be the fate of our sun in about 5 billion years from now?) I took this picture at 3 am April 29, 2019, with the 11" f/10 Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope(Celestron). This is a 1hr 22min exposure
The Techy Stuff ... For those who want to know ...
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD at f/10
0.7x Reducer lens
Mount: Celestron CGX
Mount settings: Celestron PWI V2.1.25
Polar Alignment: QHY Pole Master
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro & 60mm Scope
Guiding Software: PHD2 ... (RMS Error: 0.26 px)
Camera: Canon T7i
Settings: 120 sec exposure at ISO 3200
Filter: None
Total sub-frames: 42
20 Dark & Bias frames
Backyard EOS 3.1
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker at 2X Drizzle
Post processing in PixInsight & Photoshop CC
Bortle Light Pollution zone: 4.5 (Barely can see the Milky Way)
Sky Condition: 8.5 [scale of 0 (cloudy) to 10 (clear)]
No Lunar interference
Temperature: 66°F
Location: My Backyard, Savannah, GA
M57 with Far Distant Galaxy IC1296
... Click on Picture for full view...
One of my most recent astronomical targets was the "Ring Nebula" in the constellation of Lyra (April 28), which came out rather well, but, my friend, Walter Clayton asked if I could 'push the limits' on the Ring Nebula image to see if I could resolve a distant galaxy labeled IC 1296. Well, I did, and here it is. This is a galaxy in the "Star Wars" realm ... far far away! This barred spiral galaxy is about 221 million light-years away ... yep, that's right ... far far away. Amazing!
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