The Ring Nebula drawn

The Ring Nebula (M 57) is a planetary nebula with a simple symmetry that is familiar to observers of the sky with a telescope. It lays about 2,000 light years away in the constellation Lyra music.

This drawing cosmic ring shows signs of changing colors and subtle details. It was done under excellent conditions of direct observation of eye of a reflecting telescope of 40 inches with a 800x increase. To create the original drawing used colored pencils on white paper, here shown digitally scanned with a palette of colors inverted. With a diameter of about one light year, the nebula is composed of several layers ejected by a dying star that was like the sun.

The intense ultraviolet light from the hot central star ionizes the gas atoms and drives the nebular glow. The ionized hydrogen adds a reddish tint, while the ionized oxygen produces the characteristic blue-green color. Difficult to see under normal conditions with small telescopes, the central star of the Ring Nebula looked at all times while doing this drawing.