Deep Sky Northern Hemisphere

Equipment

GSO 16" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Truss Tube · ToupTek ATR533M · Astrodon Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Blue · Astrodon Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Blue 1.25" · Astrodon Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Green · Astrodon Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Green 1.25" · Astrodon Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Red · Astrodon Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Red 1.25" · Astrodon Gen2 I-Series Tru-Balance Blue 1.25" · Astrodon H-alpha 3nm · Astrodon H-alpha 3nm 1.25" · Astrodon OIII 3nm · Astrodon OIII 3nm 1.25" · Astrodon SII 3nm · Astrodon SII 3nm 1.25" · PrimaLuceLab ARCO 3" rotator · PrimaLuceLab ESATTO 3" robotic focuser · Astro Optik / Philipp Keller Autoslew · Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator · Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator · Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator · Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)

Integration

30h 32′ 30″

The Ring Nebula M57 is certainly not one of the less frequently imaged objects. Probably because almost any equipment can produce a pleasing result. Things become considerably more challenging, however, when the goal is not only to capture the bright ring itself, but also the extremely faint outer shells. Revealing these structures against the background requires one thing above all: plenty of integration time. And to resolve the finer details, a longer focal length certainly helps. With more than 30 hours of total integration time and our 16" RC, we were able to achieve a nice depth. Particularly fascinating are the faint structures extending far beyond the main ring, while the high resolution of the RC reveals numerous fine details within and around the nebula.