Figure 1.  Constellation Lyra (north is up).  The brightest star Vega is in the upper-right corner, the double star Epislon Lyra is to its upper-left.  The famous Ring Nebula is located between the southern-most two stars, and requires a longer exposure to be seen.  This picture was taken with the Nikon Coolpix 990; 8-second exposures had "dark" images subtracted (to reduce pixel artifacts), and four of such images were averaged.

Figure 2.  Using 10x70 binoculars with the Coolpix, pointed at the southern-most pair of stars in Lyra (eight 8-second exposures, with dark exposures subtracted to remove pixel artifacts, 2000.06.24).  The two southern-most stars in the previous image are seen here near the left and right sides of this image.  The two bars are centered on the location of the Ring Nebula, or M57, a 9.7 magnitude exploded star "smoke ring" (shown below).  Since the Coolpix has an aperture of only 3.3 mm (when set to the shortest focal length of 8.2 mm), the effective aperture of the binoculars was reduced to 33 mm.

Figure 3.  A 5 times zoomed version of the previous image, and greatly contrast enhanced, with 4 bars showing the location of the Ring Nebula (M57) - a barely discernible green "smudge" in this image.  M57 has a visual magnitude of 9.7, so the Coolpix is almost reaching to magnitude 10 using this binocular set-up.  The green color is produced by gas that glows at specific wavelengths.
 

Figure 4.  This is an average of another set of 8 exposures, each 8 seconds, with dark exposures subtracted (to remove pixel artifacts), using a cheap ($40) 10x50 binocular and improved guiding (obtained 2000.06.27).  It shows more clearly the "ring" structure of M57.  Due to the lack of light the greeness is not apparent.  This may be close to the limit that can be achieved using the Nikon Coolpix 990 camera and a cheap binocular.

Figure 5.  For comparison, this is a greatly magnified image of the Ring Nebula (M57) which I took 1999.07.21/22 using a Meade LX200 10-inch, Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with a focal reducer yeilding an effective 3.0 focal ratio at the Meade 216XT CCD imager.  This is an average of 4 20-second exposures.

Figure 6.  This average of 13 15-second exposures was taken 1999.07.04/05 without the focal reducer, corresponding to a focal ratio of 6.6.  Notice the central star (14th magnitude) that causes the surround gas shell to glow.

Figure 7.  For comparison, here's an advanced amateur's M57 image.  Jack Newton used a 25-inch f/5 telescope and a Meade Pictor 208XT CCD imager.  From Meade's General Catalog. Note that with a larger telescope you can achieve better resolution (but I'm not through trying to improve).

This site opened:  June 25, 2000.  Last Update: July 2, 2000