Messier 57 (M57), also known as the Ring Nebula, is a tiny planetary nebula located in the northern constellation Lyra.

The Ring Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.8 and lies at an approximate distance of 2,300 light years from Earth. Messier 57 lies to the south of Vega, the brightest star in Lyra and one of the stars that form the Summer Triangle, a prominent asterism found overhead in the summer sky.

Imaged from Beckwith Township, Ontario, Canada.

15 x 3 minute subs (total integration of 45 minutes); Nikon D7200; Nikon 500mm f/4G @ f/4; ISO 800.
Auto-guiding with Orion SSAG; on a Celestron AVX mount.
Shot in RAW; converted to TIFFs; stacked in DSS; processed in CS6 CC.


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