Grub
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 11
Location: UK
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 Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject: M57 The Ring Nebula |
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Description: The Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula made up of cold gas expanding away from a hot central star. The central star is too faint to view below a 12" dob. However you will have no problem finding the nebula from 6" up.
The gas is estimated to be expanding out from the central star at 12 miles per second!
You really need high power magnification to get the best out of M57 otherwise it may look just like a faint star. However you should be able to distinguish the ring from 46x up.
How to find it:
1. First find "Vega" the brightest of the summer triangle. Often the brightest in the sky.
2. Move down to the next brightest star "Sulafat" with "Sheliak" a small distance up to the right.
[FINDERSCOPE]
3. Get Sulafat and Sheliak in your finderscope. There is a star between the two stars closer to Sulafat called Burnham 648.
4. M57 The Ring Nebula is half way between Sheliak and Burnham 648. |
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