We have some exciting company news we’d like to share with you… Today we’re starting a new chapter in the Astronomy Now story, as we relaunch under new management (plot twist ahead!).
Messier 57, the Ring Nebula, graces the constellation Lyra as one of the finest planetary nebulae in the night sky. A true summer showpiece, it’s remarkably easy to locate and observe—even through modest instruments as small as 80mm (about three inches) in aperture.
This eerie, dark silhouette is a cometary globule designated GN 16.43.7.01. Despite their name, cometary globules have nothing to do with comets, beyond having a similar shape of a dusty head with a tail.