🔭 M57 — Ring Nebula

Planetary nebula in Lyra

M57, Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra, with an apparent magnitude of about 8.8, roughly 2.7 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M57
Common name	Ring Nebula
Object type	Planetary nebula
Constellation	Lyra
NGC / IC	NGC 6720
Apparent magnitude	8.8
Distance (approx.)	2.7 thousand light-years

What a planetary nebula is

Not a planet at all: the glowing shell of gas a sun-like star sheds at the end of its life, its exposed hot core lighting the cast-off envelope blue-green.

Other Messier objects in Lyra: M56.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.