Ring Nebula Visible Light

Visible light observations from the hubble space telescope and infrared imagery from the large binocular telescope were combined to create this dramatic view of the ring nebula.

Ring nebula visible light.

Previous observations by several telescopes had detected the gaseous material in the ring s central region. This close up visible light view by nasa s hubble space telescope reveals new details of the ring nebula. This visualization zooms into the constellation lyra to the location of the ring nebula and an image from the hubble space telescope visible light and the large binocular telescope infrared light. Messier 57 m57 also known as the ring nebula is a well known planetary nebula located in the northern constellation lyra.

It has the designation ngc 6720 in the new general catalogue. The ring nebula also catalogued as messier 57 m57 or ngc 6720 is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of lyra. The object is tilted toward earth so that astronomers see the ring face on. This close up visible light view by nasa s hubble space telescope reveals new details of the ring nebula.

Such objects are formed when a shell of ionized gas is expelled into the surrounding interstellar medium by a star in the last stages of its evolution before becoming a white dwarf. A three dimensional model of the ring nebula developed from. Located in the constellation lyra the nebula is a popular target for amateur astronomers. I looked at it with my 5 inch apogee telescope and a 20x eyepiece.

Nasa esa everyone loves this cosmic donut. The ring nebula is about 2 000 light years from earth and measures roughly 1 light year across. The ring nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8 8 and lies at an approximate distance of 2 300 light years from earth. A planetary nebula the ring nebula formed when a medium sized star shed the outer layers of its atmosphere at the end of its life.

The total light of ngc 3242 roughly equals that of an 8th magnitude star.