I thought I saw some colour..........

[pyrasanth]

I'm pretty sure I can see some colour in M57- even though-it's very subtle. Am I imaging this. My location is not very dark at present but I'm sure I can see a hint of red . Can anybody confirm if they have seen colour visually in M57?

I know it is easy to imagine this seeing pictures of this widely photographed object so I need to be subjective.

[todd8137]

I have never seen colour on m57 not even from the dark site and the font on your sig is hard to read what scope was you using ?

Pat

[StuW]

I've never seen colour in M57 and i've seen it through an 8 inch refractor that gave views of delicate structure in the ring.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[ChrisLX200]

Only thing I've seen colour in is M42 and that was with a 16" Dob.

ChrisH

[CodnorPaul]

M57 is a green ring in my OTA - others have also confirmed this when viewing, but never seen red?

[Chris]

I've soon colour in the outer regions of M57 with a 200pf/6 Dob, definate hint of green but not as strong as M42 obviously. Not seen red before, what scope and eyepiece was this with??

Chris

EDIT: probably the C11 in your sig

[pyrasanth]

M57 is a green ring in my OTA - others have also confirmed this when viewing, but never seen red?

I've soon colour in the outer regions of M57 with a 200pf/6 Dob, definate hint of green but not as strong as M42 obviously. Not seen red before, what scope and eyepiece was this with??

Chris

EDIT: probably the C11 in your sig

This was with the C11 Edge with a 23mm Axiom eyepiece and a focal reducer. I can definitely see a green ring- I will wait until I get better conditions and try & repeat the observation. As I said I need to be objective as we can sometimes see what we want to see!

[acey]

Years ago when I first started using my 8" dob I thought on one occasion that I could see a hint of red in M57. I subsequently decided it was wishful thinking or my eye deceiving me. I've certainly never seen it since, and don't think it's possible. But you never know.

[dweller25]

Red ??

When I was younger I saw colour (pale green) in M57 from a dark site and using an 8.5" newtonian. If you have good eyes it should be possible through a C11.

[swamp thing]

It's a bright turquoise in my 20" Dob. The colour is very obvious. No red though.

[estwing]

same here steve, still no red tho...

[RikM]

I see it as turquoise as well. More like greyish with a turquoise tint in my 10" but a really obvious and striking colour in the couple of 16" scopes I have looked through. Never saw any red though.

[AlexB67]

Same as rick and others in the same scope.  It is very subtle though I find. Apparently some see colour a bit differently anyway, I've never seen red though.  May also depend on scope and eyepiece mag a bit I think and apparent surface brightness to bring it out best.  I can also see it in my 5 inch scope when I use about half the magnification as in the 10 inch, which results in about the same apparent brightness. Just appears smaller of course, and the detail is less, but the apparent contrast appears similar and a bit of that subtle colour can be seen on a good night.

A lot of planetary nebs show a bit of the green - blue tint to me, It's what makes them so attractive IMO, even if some of the smaller ones don't show much in terms of detail in the 10 inch, still very nice

[John]

I think this will depend to some extent (maybe a great extent ?) on the sensitivities of different peoples eyes. I've only seen it in shades of grey but I've no double some folk, particularly the younger observers, will see some subtle tints in there. The only DSO which I've seen definite colour in is M42.

[RCompassi]

I've seen cyan in the blue planetary of centaurus (ngc3918) exactly like this:

Seen from C14 EdgeHD and from 12" GSO dob. Looked like the image to the right (in size and brightness!). Very heavy light pollution or a full moon didn't changed it.

The ghost of jupiter looks more green-cyan to me.

And M57 plain old B&W (but it was very low over the horizon).

Cheers

[AlexB67]

I've seen cyan in the blue planetary of centaurus (ngc3918) exactly like this:

Seen from C14 EdgeHD and from 12" GSO dob. Looked like the image to the right (in size and brightness!). Very heavy light pollution or a full moon didn't changed it.

The ghost of jupiter looks more green-cyan to me.

And M57 plain old B&W (but it was very low over the horizon).

Cheers

That's a very good example when looking at brighter PNs. To me the shades of green blue I see in that case are probably somewhere in between the black and white and middle image in your example. 

I recall the eyes on the sky weekly observing series on yuotube saying  a good way to see that extra bit colour on brighter objects like the Orion nebula is to actually ruin your night vsion for a split second by shining a torch on it, never tried it though.  From my home garden it is quite easy to ruin night vision anyway without trying .  One look over the fence and about 20 meters away is a lamp post. How well dark adapted you are will have bearing on seeing colour as well I suppose.  Unless I am in serious mode where I wear my hood to be as dark a possible and use the best spots in my garden proper dark adaptation is tricky otherwise.

[jabeoo1]

I'm pretty sure I can see some colour in M57- even though-it's very subtle. Am I imaging this. My location is not very dark at present but I'm sure I can see a hint of red . Can anybody confirm if they have seen colour visually in M57?

Remembering M57 for the first time from my light polluted city back yard.  My 10 inch dobsonian showed it as a fantastic sight.  My friend was also there and I showed it to him (also his first time).  I said nothing other than a few profanities before giving the eyepiece up to him.  The first thing he said (after a profanity)  was 'you can see colour'.  I got another look and could see what he meant. 

I have also realized from previous observations I made back along on the orion nebulae. It also took on a tinge of colour from my sky polluted yard.  However when viewed from a darker site it showed no hint of the colour at all.  I kind of concluded that a backwash hue of orange light pollution can sometimes falsely add a tinge to these great objects.  

That all said though that ring nebulae is an absolute gem (objectively speaking that is )

[faulksy]

i see color in the ring all the time faint but red green and blue, then others have seen color in m42 all i see is light green tint. everyones eyes are different, so your not imagining it

[cotterless45]

From North Skye with super clear seeing and a 10" Dob, the colours were subtle but striking. A turquoise elongate ring with a light magenta centre. Can't wait for the annual trip up there this autumn under

Clear skies !

Nick.

[Tim]

Even a camera barely picks up the red, I'm not even sure it is technically possible to see red, but the brain has the ability to interpret what information it gets and make you believe something that cannot be.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflIMBxyIak

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=evQsOFQju08

So maybe you can "see" red!

[Beulah]

I would agree with Nick's comment, as his description is exactly what I saw with the 12" Dob.

[Stu]

The most striking colour I've seen is in the Blinking Planetary, very green to me.

I also saw quite distinct green in M42 when I observed it through the 12" from home for the first time. I've only ever seen it as grey before so I'm sure it was a combination of the extra aperture and also the fact that my eyes were not fully dark adapted so my cones were firing to show colour.

I've never seen red in DSO's, occasionally see salmon pink on Jupiter, particularly in the 12"

This link is interesting

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[acey]

The only planetary nebula I know of that gets reported as showing a hint of red is IC418 in Lepus, the "Raspberry" or "Spirograph" nebula. But that's with big scopes at dark sites (I've never seen it). As I mentioned, when I was a beginner I thought I saw red in the outer part of M57, like the OP reported, and now put it down to wishful thinking - but it demonstrates to me the power of (auto-)suggestion. I wonder how many people who claim to have seen red in M42 (Orion nebula) have truly seen it. And if you really "think" you've seen something is that actually equivalent to "seeing" it (regardless of whether or not it corresponds to an objective stimulus)? Something I would not discount is the possibility of contrast effects creating a perception of colour - a kind of optical illusion. This is familiar in the case of contrasting double stars, but who knows, maybe contrast effects could also operate at much lower light levels.

Certainly, shades of green/blue/turquoise are readily visible in many planetary nebulae, e.g. NGC 7662 (the "Blue Snowball") etc.