Three Faces of the Ring Nebula M57
This is what we usually see in pictures of the Ring Nebula |
Deeper exposures reveal loops and filaments just outside the “ring” of the Ring Nebula. |
Very deep exposures show that the Ring Nebula and its loops are surrounded by a nearly perfectly circular halo of glowing material. |
All 3 of these images are taken from a single CCD exposure, but
displayed at 3 different contrast levels. All have the same identical
scale, so you can see the small size of the piece we normally
think of as “The Ring”.
The same CCD image as above, processed to show the full extension and contrast
range of the Ring nebula, as negative and positive image.
Credit: George Jacoby, KPNO
Look at George Jacoby’s
gallery
- HST image of M57
- WIYN images of M57
- Lowell 1.1-m images of M57 (Bill Keel)
- More images of M57
- Amateur images of M57,
Last Modification: 2 Feb 1998, 20:25 MET