M57?

[emadmoussa]

The first time I saw M57...I was all excited. Second time...yeah, whatever ...OK

[cantab]

I think part of the difficulty in seeing objects as a beginner is that you are used to seeing Hubble images and top quality astrophotography.

Even though you know you are not going to see things the same way through a telescope your brain still knows what it "should look like" because you have seen the photos.

Once you get some experience in how things really look it's much easier to spot them.

M57 is a beautiful sight and pretty easy to see - It took me several attempts to actually 'see' the veil nebula even though I was looking straight at it.

I've found Stellarium good for this. At least at low powers, like for binocular observing, what it shows is pretty similar to what the real thing looks like. When you zoom in more though it shows the colourful views, so maybe not such a good guide for stuff like M57 in a scope.

[AndyWB]

As I've heard, ring nebula was tough to study directly due to its faint appearance, had to see it more slightly in peripheral view.

Hmm. Might be worth keeping trying with it. First time I looked at M57 it appeared to be this perfect little smoke ring in the sky, and though the hole was more obvious with averted vision, I could still make it out directly. Then the next time out - it was just a fuzzy blob. It became the thing I checked first each night. So nights are better than others.

Using a UHC filter pulls out detail in it nicely - last time it looked a bit more 'blob' like, but with the UHC I could see that it was oval, and the change in width of the ring around it. It was my best view yet.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I think M57 punches through light pollution pretty good. Mainly as it is a bright object. Much better than most DSOs.

[Donkeiller]

Use Goto.

I'm sure I couldn't find M57, or a whole host of other stuff from my city-centre back garden.

With Goto I can easily find most stuff- M57 is quite clear in my 4" refractor (and alot better with my 8SE!)

[Moonshane]

M57 is one of the brighter Messiers it's just that it's quite small. I have seen it through reasonable thickness high cloud on a number of occasions. like many things, once you find it the first time you then wonder what made it so difficult before.

[Nightshift63]

I have not had my Telescope very long and I found M57 first try, I think it was more luck than judgement and it was directly overhead, I only had one EP 28mm but could see the tiny smoke ring clearly and got s slightly better view with averted vision. this was the first time I used the telescope and was really pleased I will always have treasured memory of the first time out with my telescope.

[Bungielad]

Can you get it with a 130p skywatcher? Iv tried but no joy!

Bungielad.

[AndyWB]

Can you get it with a 130p skywatcher? Iv tried but no joy!

You certainly can - I have frequently, and usually under poor light pollution. It's fairly bright, but knowing where to look can be trickier until you know how.

Put in your lowest magnification eyepiece.

As Emadmoussa's diagram shows, align mid-way between beta and gamma Lyrae. Don't confuse them with zeta and delta, which form a similar line closer to Vega! (I did!) Beta and gamma are much brighter. Make sure you've found both those stars. Imagine a line between them. Slightly away from the mid point, toward Beta (the brighter) and off to one side there should be a fuzzy star. At low magnification that's all it really looks like - a fuzzy spot. Take your time and check the whole field of view - rush and you can miss it (I did!) When you find it, centre on that and up the magnification - and hopefully you'll see a ring!

[Bungielad]

Cheers andy I'll give it another go as soon as the moon is out of sight, had some great views last night after about 12:00-2:00am and also tried to get andromida inn but once again no joy???? PA is really good where I was last night and tracking was spot on but still....no ring and no andromida!

Bungielad.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Can you get it with a 130p skywatcher? Iv tried but no joy!

Bungielad.

My first sight of the Ring was with a 70mm F/10 achromat at school. Found it fairly easily between the bottom two stars of the parallelogram in the chart above. Your 130mm scope should cope easily. Unlike many Messiers, it does not stand out in a 50mm finder due to its small size. I come back to M57 quite often. Under LP or bright moonlight, a UHC filter helps a lot (as it does with M27, that other bright planetary in the summer sky), which makes it an ideal DSO during bright nights.