Michael Purcell's Astrophotography

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M57: The Ring Nebula

M57

(Click on the picture above to go to the main image.)

M57 is the glowing cloud that surrounds an aging star that has ejected its outer layers of gas. It is an excellent example of a "planetary" nebula.

In the main picture you can see a faint smudge near the upper right corner. This is IC 1296, a 15th magnitude spiral galaxy. With the main picture I have included an unprocessed and overexposed section of the original image. In it you can see IC 1296 just to the lower left of the top central star.

I took this picture from my driveway.

Constellation Lyra
Right Asc (hh:mm:ss) 18:53:36
Declination(deg:sec) 33:02
Magnitude 9
Size (ArcMin) 2.5
Tirion SkyAtlas 2000 #8
Uranometria 2000 #117

CCD Camera Parameters

ST-7 Compressed Image
File_version = 3
Data_version = 1
Exposure = 5 minutes
Focal_length = 63.000
Aperture = 65.9400
Response_factor = 300.000
Note = Picture taken 09/01/95 at 23:10:38
Background = 600
Range = 1024
Height = 510
Width = 765
Date = 09/01/95
Time = 23:10:38
Exposure_state = 37
Temperature = -9.79 C
Number_exposures = 1
Each_exposure = 5 minutes
History = D
Observer = Michael Purcell
X_pixel_size = 0.0090
Y_pixel_size = 0.0090
Pedestal = 0
E_gain = 3.00
User_1 = CCDOPS for DOS Version 2.05
Filter = None
Readout_mode = 0

This page last updated on February 11, 1998 Contact Michael Purcell

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