Here’s a version of the Ring Nebula, composed by Kevin Sang ’22 using data I took in the summer.
Kevin explains “This is a composite image of Messier 57/NGC 6720, also known as the Ring Nebula. The Ring Nebula is roughly 2,600 lightyears away and has an apparent magnitude of 8.8. It is a planetary nebula made up of ionized gas surrounding a stellar object that is evolving to become a white dwarf.
The image is taken using a 16-inch optical telescope and a Charged Coupled Device (CCD). The CCD consists of many individual pixel cells, each of which counts the amount of photons that it receives over a period of exposure time. Combined with SII, H-alpha, and OIII filters, images of the Ring Nebula in different wavelengths can be captured, and by using AstroImageJ, we composed a RGB image of it.”