This M57 (Ring Nebula) shot was taken on June 29, 2003. The shot was take at prime focus with the Nexstar 8 GPS with no focal reducer at outside temperature of about 97 degrees F. The Ring Nebula is just a very dim patch visually through the telescope from my driveway. This shot is a single 20 second exposure with my SAC 8 camera. It was probably my first really successful shot with the SAC 8 camera. To give you a feeling for the sensitivity of this camera, I understand that the central star in M57 is about 18th magnitude (really faint).
Shot on 6/12/04, this latest version of M57, the Ring Nebula, does not show as much detail as the first version , and it does not show the central star, but hey, I was only using an 80mm refractor, not an 8 or 11 inch SC...
