When a Rose is not a Rose
M57, the Ring Nebula, ranks one of the most well-known objects for visual observers
and imagers alike. It holds color and detail in any mode of observation. With long enough exposures
many seemingly secret details reveal themselves in a vista that is unlikely to hide very much. Here
a very deep exposure totaling more than 5 hours in Ha (emission of the nebula in particular red light)
and more than 10 hours of color data begin to yeild what the this multicolored rose has to offer. Many
images of M57 that show the outer halo (early epoch mass loss) are accomplished using the red color (Ha)
alone. This data attempts to show the colors that are within this outer glowing shell. Thus a bright
version of the nebula (from the same data) was blended with the dim portion and shows the ring in
its entirety as well as colorful foreground stars and even a few fuzzy background galaxies. This project
was undertaken as a collaboration with Jay GaBany.
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