Ring Nebula - help

[Paulb3098]

Only recently purchased my 1st scope, along with a copy of turn left at Orion and I’m having real trouble finding the Ring Nebula. I appear to have no trouble finding Vega and Sheliak & Sulafat ? but I just cannot pin down the nebula. Any advice would be really welcome.

[Dai150PL]

Hi paul, download yourself a free copy of Stelllarium. There are many others but I prefer Stellarium. I have the same scope as you, you will enjoy it. Before I venture out for the night I always have a look at that software. Makes things simple and I like simple, just like me. And remember this is fun so relax, if you do not find it tonight you will next time as you get more use of the scope, good hunting.

[Rusty Strings]

Depending on the type of scope you have will determine how bright it will be, even so, if the seeing is poor you may have to use averted vision to see it pop out. Just try looking around the field of view and it should suddenly appear.

[yeti monster]

With a dark sky your 150 should be able to grab a good view of the ring. Start with your longest focal length EP, it'll appear as a grey smudge with a darker centre, perhaps not so obvious until you actually notice it. Then you'll wonder how you ever missed it.

[Talitha]

At low power it looks like an out-of focus star and is basically unimpressive till you kick up the power enough to see the smoke ring. That's when the fun starts.

[Llamanaut]

Do you have a red dot finder or telrad? Its roughly halfway between the two lower stars of lyra, i remember my first view almost made me jump it literally popped into view! Good luck and enjoy!

[lukebl]

As Talitha suggests, M57 is really small. So small that with a low magnification you hardly notice it until you know what to expect.

[glowjet]

A very comprehensive guide, "Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders", a paperback of some 519 pages, available through Amazon at a touch over £16 post free, very detailed, for every DSO, star clusters etc, there is a written explanation/history, star maps 5deg and 1deg finder circles and for most of them a photo of the subject and the surrounding star field showing it`s location and what you would expect to see through a small scope, there are some 400 of them.

[gedmac]

A very comprehensive guide, "Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders", a paperback of some 519 pages, available through Amazon at a touch over £16 post free, very detailed, for every DSO, star clusters etc, there is a written explanation/history, star maps 5deg and 1deg finder circles and for most of them a photo of the subject and the surrounding star field showing it`s location and what you would expect to see through a small scope, there are some 400 of them.

i can vouch for this book as a noob it really is very informative:)

[Mouse on the Moon]

As a fellow noob (June this year) the Ring Nebula is much smaller and brighter than you expect.

As others have said, it doesn't jump out at you at low powers because and will miss it on a casual sweep. It looks pretty much like a star unless you look at it directly for a while.

At high powers you can't see enough of the sky to find the thing, even though it would then "jump out" at you on a casual sweep.

Download Stellarium, check it's position carefully and have a good slow look in a low power eyepiece. The fact that everything is upside down doesn't help and it can be confusing.

Hope this helps!

[Moonshane]

this might be insulting but make sure you are looking at the correct pair of stars in Lyra. when I first started I got frustrated and then realised I was looking at the wrong ones. In the finder you should be able to see the two main stars and then between them and a third of the way from one there's another less bright star. halfway between this and the star two thirds away is the ring. you should certainly see it well at anything around 100x or more.

this set of maps will help Messier Maps

the ring/Lyra is on map 8 http://www.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_finder_charts/map8.pdf

on map 8, the word 'Lyra' is next to a dot which is the famed 'double double'. it's an easy split into two in the finder and four if your collimation and seeing is good at about 150x or more. this should be on the left of Vega and the correct pair of stars on the right and below Vega if you are in the right place. Lyra is a lovely little constellation and well placed currently.

this might help too Small Wonders: Lyra - Article

good luck - it's worth the effort!

[LukeSkywatcher]

A couple of months ago i was lucky enough to happen across the Ring Nebula while scanning the general area it is located in. I was observing with my Heritage 130P.

It knocked my socks off. YES it was small. YES it was faint but i knew exactly what it was. It was a perfectly formed "ring of smoke" in the sky. My imagination took over and displayed in my mind all the fantastic images i have ever seen of it.

[al55]

Thanks for the link to the Messier maps, just got a telrad so should be a big help.

[Paulb3098]

Thanks for the all the advice, I've downloaded Stellarium and all I need now is a clear night.

[kidlands]

Hi Paul just to add to the other comments I am newish to all of this and M57 was my first DSO. Like someone said before I chanced on it after knowing roughly where it was, I was using my 17mm Hyperion so lowish power and I now use the 13mm but it just popped into view and WOW!

[Paulb3098]

Just received my copy of Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders, great recommendation.

[Starmanwaitinginthesky]

I'm so depressed! started this 3 days ago and I can only dream of seeing things like this!

[pvaz]

Just be cool about it. Look calmly at the sky/maps and make sure you are point at the right area. When you are sure, you have 2 options:

1) insert a low power EP, adjust the focus as best as you can and then calmly look across the FOV for the one star thats out of focus. Center on it and use a higher power.

2) Insert a higher power EP instead (70x to 120x), and gently nodge the scope till a faint and small smoke ring pops out.

Starman, you should give a try at this too. It's likely your scope will show a better image of a DSO then a planet. DSOs are faint and not so sharp so not even a bigger/better scope can enhance them too much. As I said in the previous post stick with the 12.5mm, it's more then enough power for this. Use the links Moonshane posted above.

[spaceboy]

I found it a good idea with stellerium to adjust the light pollution so it shows roughly the same stars that you see when look unaided at the sky. When you go out to observe use a red dot / Telrad finder rather than a magnified finder as the finder can cause all sorts of confusion due to mirrored image etc. I have also found magnified finders confusing as they reveal so many more stars that I get confused which star I was originaly hopping from.

For the first time it can be a little tricky to find but once you do because of how it's situated you will find it much easier in the future. It is an impressive site and I'm sure I have seen vague colour in it.

[Starmanwaitinginthesky]

Just be cool about it. Look calmly at the sky/maps and make sure you are point at the right area. When you are sure, you have 2 options:

1) insert a low power EP, adjust the focus as best as you can and then calmly look across the FOV for the one star thats out of focus. Center on it and use a higher power.

2) Insert a higher power EP instead (70x to 120x), and gently nodge the scope till a faint and small smoke ring pops out.

Starman, you should give a try at this too. It's likely your scope will show a better image of a DSO then a planet. DSOs are faint and not so sharp so not even a bigger/better scope can enhance them too much. As I said in the previous post stick with the 12.5mm, it's more then enough power for this. Use the links Moonshane posted above.

Thankyou very much for your advice! It's my fault I hate being new with things... lol....

I really need to study star maps and get used to that.

[cotterless45]

As a newbie , the most useful thing is to get your eyes dark adapted. Many DSOs are faint, they are quite easy to pick out at lower magnification when you get dark adapted. In many cases a higher magnification of nebulae will just give you a bigger bit of fuzz!!

It takes time and patience, it is worth it!

All we need is more clear skies.

[xboxdevil]

Another trick that I use as I'm sweeping in the right area is to focus & de-focus the stars and it if it's in your field of view it will stand out as it will look like an out of focus star at a different time to the other out of focus stars. The first time I found it, it disappeared when I looked straight at it, but it appeared when I looked above/below or to the left/right of it, so averted vision can sometimes really be needed.

[LukeSkywatcher]

At low power it looks like an out-of focus star and is basically unimpressive till you kick up the power enough to see the smoke ring. That's when the fun starts.

Agreed. I found it a few months back purely by accident. I knew that what i was looking at was SOMETHING, but it was only when i increased the magnification that it became obvious as to what it was.

A VERY small ring "of smoke".