Ring Nebula with ST80

[mark81]

 I went out with the ST80 at 10,30 after seeing how clear it had been all afternoon with the promise of Autumn in the air.  I had totally forgotten about the moon being out as its been cloudy here for the last seven days or so.  I turned my back to it and looked north to have a go at M81/M82 but by the time I moved the scope to the back of the garden, a thin layer of cloud rolled in.   I spun to the East a little and picked out M103 which I suppose falls into the category of 'less is more' as its quite a delicate cluster and  for me doesn't stand up to the other clusters in that region.

More cloud rolled in surrounding my sky from all directions.  All that was left was Lyra right above my head. Got onto my hands and knees and bent my neck into quite a strange position to look through the red dot finder.  I used the 15mm BST first and using averted vision could just make out a tiny smudge. Swapped for a 6.3mm and there it was. Even with the light of the Moon I could just make out the donut shape.  This got me thinking as to how well I might be able to see it under nice dark winter skies - here Andromeda is a naked eye object so seeing is quite good - so I'm hopeful.

Cloud covered the Lyra and the night was over, but very pleased to have bagged M57

[cloudsweeper]

Well spotted, Mark.  You could also try M57 with an OIII filter to enhance the contrast.

Doug.

[Highburymark]

Good thing to bag with an 80mm scope Mark. I sometimes find the Ring Nebula an illusive target - often disappointing. But on rare dark nights when the atmosphere is still it can be stunning, even in small refractors.

[Stu]

Nice one Mark, good catch under LP with the ST80.

I’ve often read of new starters struggling for ages to see this little beauty. On Saturday night I had the TS 72mm out, moon was full and some hazy cloud bands passing through. I thought I would test if I could see it with a 24mm Eyepiece at x18. Simple answer is yes, quite easily. It stood out as a tiny grey disk, easy to centre then add more power.

I guess the wide field helped me out, I just put Sulafat and Sheliak in the field of view and it was simple. With a higher powered scope with smaller field of view I can imagine it would be harder, but still amazing how this one cuts through LP, both artificial and lunar!

Thanks for your post  

[John]

Great report and well spotted !

As Stu says, it is easy to overlook this one, even though it's well known, when first searching for it with a low power eyepiece. It can look little more than a bloated star.

It's one of those objects that rewards both at low and higher powers in my view. Once found, low powers and wide fields enable the nebula to be seen within the context of the Lyra star fields where it does stand out as an "oddity". Using higher powers helps to bring contrast and definition making the central area darker and enhancing the twisted "rim", even with small aperture scopes.

 

 

 

[alan potts]

As other have said a very good spot with an 80mm scope,not an easy target at all, even with a bigger instrument.

Alan

[celestron8g8]

Congratulations on the seeing  M57 . Is the ST80 an Achromatic refractor ? How are the optics at handling CA or is there a filter used for the CA ? 

[mark81]

42 minutes ago, celestron8g8 said:

Congratulations on the seeing  M57 . Is the ST80 an Achromatic refractor ? How are the optics at handling CA or is there a filter used for the CA ? 

Yes, it's an achromatic, I only have CA around the edge of the moon, but it's something I don't really think about.  Most DSOs that I veiw with low power wide field EPs I don't notice anything - although I haven't got another scope to compare it with..