Object Type: Planetary Nebula
Constellation: Lyra
Magnitude: 8.8
Size: 1.4' x 1.0'

M57, commonly known as the Ring Nebula, is one of the brightest planetary nebulae in the sky, and was the second to be discovered after M27. It is located at a distance of about 2,300 light-years. In this image a faint outer halo can be seen. In the upper right is the magnitude 15.5 spiral galaxy IC 1296.

Equipment: 14" Meade LX200R/ST-10XME/Astrodon LRGB filters/Paramount ME
F-ratio: f/6.5
Exposures: LRGB: L 10 x 6 minutes, binned 2x2: R 10 x 6 minutes: G 10 x 6 minutes: B 10 x  6 minutes: RGB binned 3x3
Date: August 10, 2007
Location: Landers, California, USA
Technical Notes: Individual exposures were obtained using CCDAutoPilot2 and then sigma combined. The RGB image was created in Registar 1.0. A high-pass filter with a radius of 4 pixels was selectively applied to a copy of the luminance image.