M57
Discovered by Messier in 1779, M57 is a bright planetary nebula, a result of the ageing central star having ejected a significant proportion of its mass into space. The central star is variable, from mag 14-16, and a difficult object except in large scopes, but shows well in CCD images, as in the above image. At magnitude 9.0 and of size 1.4' x 1', it is visible in most amateur 'scopes. Click HERE for colour version taken with my Canon 450D DSLR through the LX200 scope.
