m57 Ring Nebula

Although the tracking wasn't perfect on the shot, I was still quite happy with the final result. If you look closely, all of the larger stars exhibit a similar shape to one another, highlighting the guiding errors! I worked out the resolution to be 0.58 arc-sec/pixel in this configuration! No wonder it was so difficult to track well. Typically, the seeing doesn't support better than 2 arc-sec/pixel, but summertime Florida skies tend to be quite still and I can usually split doubles down to approximately 0.6" (not having tried anything smaller).


M57		Updated: 6.29.02
	Here's the first of 2 images of the Ring Nebula (M57), a super nova remnant. It is located in the small constellation of Lyra. This shot was taken from the driveway at f/10.
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Although the tracking wasn't perfect on the shot, I was still quite happy with the final result. If you look closely, all of the larger stars exhibit a similar shape to one another, highlighting the guiding errors! I worked out the resolution to be 0.58 arc-sec/pixel in this configuration! No wonder it was so difficult to track well. Typically, the seeing doesn't support better than 2 arc-sec/pixel, but summertime Florida skies tend to be quite still and I can usually split doubles down to approximately 0.6" (not having tried anything smaller).
Image info: 12"LX200 Milburn Wedge Starlight Express MX7C 2x10 + 5x4 mins f/10 Astroart Auto guided in AA 9.16.01 Driveway