MESSIER OBJECT 57 - THE RING NEBULA  A planetary nebula* approximately 1,500 light years distant in the constellation Lyra. The blue-green interior color of the nebula is caused by oxygen emission; farther out the red color is caused by hydrogen emission.

Also visible in this image, but only barely so, is IC1296 a faint 15th magnitude spiral galaxy which is about 350 million light years away! It appears as a very dim smudge of light in a "trapezoid-shaped" group of stars just off the middle left of the Ring.

Imaged at Tres Placitas Observatory Santa Fe, NM July 2, 2003

*Please see the description under M27, The Dumbell Nebula, for more information about planetary nebulae.

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Last modified: January 1st, 2009