My Collins Gem Stars book describes the Ring Nebula as disappointing with amateur telescopes. Well, I'm not disappointed because I actually found it tonight. The first Messier that I found

No pics I'm afraid - I'm a beginner

Took me an hour to find it but I think I've finally cracked this tracking down malarky What delayed me was seeing a double star in the viewfinder and then wondering where the hell "1 Lyr" was - should have been halfway between that double and Vega! Finally realised that I wasn't looking at 2 Lyr at all - but 1a and 2a. Once I copped that it was a piece of cake to find 2 Lyr and then move up (down) to Sulafat and Sheriak - and hey presto - there's this big grey blob staring at me

Yes, it's 3:15, I'm cold, a little drunk, and happy

Well done Steve. Its no mean feat finding M57. At mag 9.5 its a little bugger to find visually.

Glad you're getting to grips with star-hopping. Only a hundred more M's to find... Then you can start on the NGC/IC's...

I'm just after packing up myself - to the dawn chorus. Bagged a few goodies tonight. I need to do some astrometry but I may have gotten a couple of the Uranean (?) moons, possibly Triton, and almost certainly Pluto (no teapot yet Bill). The dawn beat me to Mars but I bagged Jupiter, the moon and a couple of sunspots. Oh yes, and one 'M' object - 101

Keep it up and keep us posted.

Cheers

Dave McD (sober but also tired and happy )

Nice one Steve,
I find the ring nebula one of the more stunning objects in the sky, it looks like as does in the photos except for the colour.

I saw the ring nebula for the first time last night too..Kerry astronomy club had an observing session and I got to see it through an 8.75" dob...Should be on the list with saturn as a definite object for introducing people to the joys of astronomy

I have yet to actually find the Ring Nebula myself, its that difficult! Of course, I have seen it with a goto, but on a manual sweep of the sky, I couldn't get it with either the 70mm refractor, or my 8" reflector... Probably the sky conditions were not the best on the night with the 8".

Seanie.

I have yet to actually find the Ring Nebula myself, its that difficult! Of course, I have seen it with a goto, but on a manual sweep of the sky, I couldn't get it with either the 70mm refractor, or my 8" reflector... Probably the sky conditions were not the best on the night with the 8".

Seanie.

Well it did take me an hour and a lot of persistence. I was near giving up tbh. But I'm glad I stuck at it. According the Messier handbook you can see it in any skies. At 1:30 am last it was fairly high up in the sky as well so light pollution was minimised.

Next on the list is M13

You wont be dissapointed!
M13 is a fabulous object through a medium scope and only gets better through a bigger scope,
A 12" scope or larger resolve the stars right into the core visually!

My Collins Gem Stars book describes the Ring Nebula as disappointing with amateur telescopes. Well, I'm not disappointed because I actually found it tonight. The first Messier that I found

The Ring Nebula is a showpiece object. The Collins book is wrong!

Took me an hour to find it but I think I've finally cracked this tracking down malarky What delayed me was seeing a double star in the viewfinder and then wondering where the hell "1 Lyr" was - should have been halfway between that double and Vega! Finally realised that I wasn't looking at 2 Lyr at all - but 1a and 2a. Once I copped that it was a piece of cake to find 2 Lyr and then move up (down) to Sulafat and Sheriak - and hey presto - there's this big grey blob staring at me

Some confusion here I think. 1 and 2 Lyrae are way west of Vega and really won't figure at all in locating M57. The double 1a and 2a you refer to is Delta 1 and Delta 2 (in fact 11 and 12 Lyrae) and the 2 Lyr you mention is Zeta (actually 6 Lyrae). They form the top half of the parallellogram. Sulafat (Gamma / 14 Lyrae) and Sheliak (Beta / 10 Lyrae) form the bottom half of the parallellogram. Look for BU648, the 5th mag. star close to Gamma and then aim your finderscope halfway and a little below (above in a reflector) a line joining BU648 and Beta. With practice, you'll locate M57 in about 10 seconds.

Scout the area with binoculars first before turning to your telescope. This is a good trick for helping to find the location of many deep sky objects, even if you can't actually see them through binoculars. It gives you the lay of the land, so to speak. With M57, I can actually see it quite easily as a fuzzy star in my 15 x 50 Canon IS binoculars.

Gordon

Some confusion here I think. 1 and 2 Lyrae are way west of Vega and really won't figure at all in locating M57. The double 1a and 2a you refer to is Delta 1 and Delta 2 (in fact 11 and 12 Lyrae) and the 2 Lyr you mention is Zeta (actually 6 Lyrae). They form the top half of the parallellogram. Sulafat (Gamma / 14 Lyrae) and Sheliak (Beta / 10 Lyrae) form the bottom half of the parallellogram.
Gordon

According to Starry Night Pro the double I was actually looking at (in error) was 1a and 2a. Referred to in this map (www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/maps/lyr/lyr1.gif) as the double double. SN Pro refers to the double I wanted as 2 Lyr (at the top of the parallelogram. D1 and D2 (or 11 & 12) are the ones I referred to as 1 & 2.

What I meant was that I was looking at the wrong double initially - so you're right in that they didn't figure in finding M57 but it seems there is confusion in the labelling of stars.

According to Starry Night Pro the double I was actually looking at (in error) was 1a and 2a. Referred to in this map (www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/maps/lyr/lyr1.gif) as the double double. SN Pro refers to the double I wanted as 2 Lyr (at the top of the parallelogram. D1 and D2 (or 11 & 12) are the ones I referred to as 1 & 2.
What I meant was that I was looking at the wrong double initially - so you're right in that they didn't figure in finding M57 but it seems there is confusion in the labelling of stars.

Yes, it could appear confusing to a beginner. Starry Night Pro refers to the Double-Double as Epsilon 1a and Epsilon 2a. The Epsilon (Bayer letter) is important. The stars are not 1a & 2a Lyrae. Epsilon 1 and Epsilon 2 are 4 and 5 Lyrae (Flamsteed numbers) respectively. Each star is in fact a double itself (hence Double-Double) so there are A & B components to each. Zoom in and you will see Epsilon 1a & 1b and Epsilon 2a and 2b.

The double star you refer to as 2 Lyr is not 2 Lyr; it's Delta 1 and Delta 2 Lyrae (11 and 12 Lyrae respectively). Right click on these stars in SNP and open up the Show Info item and you will see the Flamsteed numbers for these stars.

Here's one reference explaining Bayer and Flamsteed designations. A Google search will produce many more.
www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/starname.html

Good luck with finding many more Messier and other objects.

Gordon