Ring Nebula
A ring of gas thrown off by a dying star, small but crisp in a telescope.
Tonight from
Rise, highest point and set are worked out on your device for the place above.
What it is
- Kind of object
- Planetary nebula
- Distance
- 2,700 light years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 8.8, a sight for a small telescope
- Size in the sky
- 1.3 arcminutes, a small spot even in a telescope
- Constellation
- Lyra
- Catalogue
- M 57, NGC 6720
Figures from OpenNGC, CC BY-SA 4.0; the SEDS Messier catalogue, via Wikipedia’s table of Messier objects, CC BY-SA 4.0. All sources
Near it in the sky
- VegaA white main-sequence star in Lyra, about three fingers away.
- AlbireoAn orange bright giant in Cygnus, about a fist away.
- Dumbbell NebulaA planetary nebula in Vulpecula, about a hand span away.
- M 92A globular cluster in Hercules, about a hand span away.
- DenebA white supergiant in Cygnus, about a hand span away.