My first M57!

[garyscott]

Saw M57 for the first time last night....speechless! Has to be said, this really is the greatest hobby ever!

[ncjunk]

What scope were you using and was it easy to find? I must do more observing and less photos.

[RayGil]

Yes it's a great sight, I found it difficult to find the first time, until you realise it's not a fuzzy star and I use high power EP normally 10mm which brings out the ring nicely. I now use M57, M13 & M31 as test objects for seeing conditions. M57 is very useful for a test object, because once you resolve the smoke ring depending on seeing conditions and site, depends on how much detail you can see. From a Dark Sky site it's a stunning object to view.

[garyscott]

What scope were you using and was it easy to find? I must do more observing and less photos.

Skywatcher 130P, Alt/Az mounted. 3x Barlow and a wide angle EP. Fairly easy to find after consulting Stellarium! Just find Vega, and once i knew where that was i just "aimed off" to where Stellarium said it would be and Hey Presto! An easily defined grey ring that could only have been M57.(Grey to my eye). Not a dark site where i am, but being outside of a town in the "sticks", its fairly dark.....just if only the clouds would b**ger off,, when its good seeing here, its GOOD.

[RayGil]

I used a Sky-Watcher 130p also when I found it, 10mm EP to locate then x2 barlow to view.

It's only slightly better in the 200p a more defined ring and whispy center, and under really good conditions, nearly the center core, but hard to tell.

Ray

[Quatermass]

I'm getting a sky-watcher 200p next week having viewed it with the 130p which was my first scope and a 10mm with the 2x barlow, now gone back to upgrade to the 200p and hoping for a better view of it. My be some better quality lenses would help matters with a trans-matter cloud dispersant gun!

[Revs]

What scope were you using and was it easy to find? I must do more observing and less photos.

Despite it's small size, M57 isn't to hard to find. First, locate Vega (in Lyra), which is easy as it's one of the brightest stars up there. Just off to the side of Vega there are two semi-bright stars, Sulafat and Sheliak. M57 is just about in the middle of these two, as marked in the image below by a green square...

Hope this is useful to someone

[LukeSkywatcher]

I was also using a SW 130P (Heritage) when i found M57. Very small but very distinct (M57....i mean).

[Quatermass]

I would like to get a look at the Orion Nebula but its not up high enough yet, that is to say I dont want to stay up that late. Getting the new sky watcher will give me the inspiration I need though:p

[griff44]

Nice one, well done! would love to see this with my new 8" dob

[mark7331]

Congratulations! M57 is a beauty and a really exciting find! Well done. That's a big one to tick off on your Messier list!

[kidlands]

M57 was one of my first wow sightings too nice one Gary.

[Geno]

Thanks Revs, found M57 last night using your description and picture in this post. Truly is amazing when found, not to bad either in the 10mm EP which came with the scope.

[Revs]

Very good Geno, glad it helped. You would have a better view than I do with the Mak. It's only just visible in mine, but the extra aperture of your scope should make for a brighter view

[Petrol]

Cool, I can't wait to get a better eyepiece for my scope then I can actually see stuff

[george7378]

I also first saw it this summer with a 130. The view was really nice, with the dark inner circle surrounded by the small ring. Well done - it took be a while to find it against the star fields - it is so small.

[Altair40]

Well, well M57- something else I didn't really know it was possible to observe with the 130mm. Well apart from in someones expert review.

I'm hoping for some very clear winter nights. Never mind the cold!

Thanks for map, Revs. I know where Lyra is relative to Cygnus but that's the best set of directions I've seen.

:-)

[Revs]

You're welcome Just make sure you get out early . M57 is getting lower as the winter comes, so get your scope cooled and ready to view for 7pm, as after 8pm it's gonna be too low (<30deg Alt) to pick out.

[Makron]

Well done!!