M57 The Ring Nebula

[WolfieGlos]

This has taken more effort than usual to process (and thanks to those assisting in the help forum!), but I have now caught up on data gathered this year.

So here is a widefield view of M57, framed between Sulafat and Sheliak, and processed in such a way to allow quite an extreme stretch on the background to show the outer shell ....but also the large star halos, and then a HDR blend of the core of the ring blended back in. I did consider reducing the stars and the large halos, but for such a large and relatively empty area, I felt it actually added something to the image.

I've been hoping to gather some RGB data to try and bring out the nearby galaxy, as all of this data is with the triband l'enhance, but the UK weather has had other ideas and looks set to continue for a while. For such a small target, I'm happy to leave it there and ignore the next even fainter third shell of the nebula. It is barely visible after 10 hours, so suspect a faster scope would have been preferable for this! 

Canon EOS 800Da + leNhance Filter + Starfield 102ED + 0.8 Reducer on HEQ5
ISO - 800
Frames - 125 x 180s + 19 x 300s + 12 x 600s + 50 bias, 50 flats, 5 darks. TOTAL TIME: 09:50:00
Stacked in SIRIL with 2x Drizzle, edited in SIRIL, AstroDeNoisePY and GIMP

Comments / criticism welcome 🙂

[Neil_104]

Great image and an interesting take on a familiar object - really nice to see M57 in context of being positioned between Sulafat and Sheliak 👍

[WolfieGlos]

1 hour ago, Neil_104 said:

Great image and an interesting take on a familiar object - really nice to see M57 in context of being positioned between Sulafat and Sheliak 👍

Thanks Neil! 

[Neil_104]

and how about this - I was just reading up on the double star SHJ 282AC (https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/dsc-60-three-wide-doubles-in-lyra-to-get-you-started-zeta-ζ-beta-β-and-shj-282ac/) for my next double star session (whenever that will be given this weather lately...) when I remembered your image. So I had a check for it and there it is, I think, top left in the widefield image

Edited July 30, 2023 by Neil_104

[WolfieGlos]

35 minutes ago, Neil_104 said:

and how about this - I was just reading up on the double star SHJ 282AC (https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/dsc-60-three-wide-doubles-in-lyra-to-get-you-started-zeta-ζ-beta-β-and-shj-282ac/) for my next double star session (whenever that will be given this weather lately...) when I remembered your image. So I had a check for it and there it is, I think, top left in the widefield image

Hi Neil, yeah weather has been terrible. We always moan about the weather in the UK but this summer has been unusually bad. Hopefully it’ll clear up someday. 

I think sadly that that double is just out of shot above the double on my image 🙁Comparing that link to Stellarium quickly, the website lists the double as SHJ 282AC , or HIP92833. I believe the double you’ve seen in my image is HIP92932, just by comparing the 2 brighter stars underneath it. Happy to be corrected though 😀

[Lee_P]

Really interesting to see just how small it is with the brighter two stars as a frame of reference 👍

[peter shah]

Puts it in perspective......nice shot showing the outer layers really well

[WolfieGlos]

4 hours ago, Lee_P said:

Really interesting to see just how small it is with the brighter two stars as a frame of reference 👍

Thanks Lee! The blue, white and red core of the nebula itself is also very bright, and clearly visible in each individual sub. Comes though in colour and is just as bright as the reference stars on a 180s sub in nautical darkness.

27 minutes ago, peter shah said:

Puts it in perspective......nice shot showing the outer layers really well

Thanks Peter !

[simmo39]

V nice, Like the widefield view shows just how to star hop to M 57.

[Neil_104]

21 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

I think sadly that that double is just out of shot above the double on my image 🙁Comparing that link to Stellarium quickly, the website lists the double as SHJ 282AC , or HIP92833. I believe the double you’ve seen in my image is HIP92932, just by comparing the 2 brighter stars underneath it. Happy to be corrected though 😀

Ah yes you are quite correct - that's an extra double going on my list!

[The60mmKid]

This is so beautiful. In addition to M57, I love how Sheliak appears. It's one of my favorite objects to observe, and I don't think I've ever seen it in a photo.

[WolfieGlos]

6 hours ago, simmo39 said:

V nice, Like the widefield view shows just how to star hop to M 57.

Thanks simmo! Yeah it certainly does, I hadn’t thought about that.

29 minutes ago, Neil_104 said:

Ah yes you are quite correct - that's an extra double going on my list!

You’re welcome haha! There’s a few over by Sheliak too I noticed. 

24 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

This is so beautiful. In addition to M57, I love how Sheliak appears. It's one of my favorite objects to observe, and I don't think I've ever seen it in a photo.

Thank you 60mm, appreciate the kind words! Glad to have put Sheliak into a photo for you! I did wonder if it was wrong at first and suffering from severe tilt due to the three bright stars shining through its halo, only to then discover they were actually different stars. Caught me totally by surprise.