Name Todd D. Vance Bowie, MD	Seeing (1-10) 5	Site Bowie, MD: N38º54'51'' W76º44'5''
Date / Time 6/10/06 23:24—23:33EDT	Transparency(1-5) 3.5	Object Name M57 Ring Nebula
Instrument Celestron C6-R 150mm f/8 refractor	Power 80X (15mm plössl) 0.65º FOV	Constellation Lyra
Location: ____h ____m ____s ____º ____' ____'' J2000 (Starry Night)

Fuzzy white donut with prominent hole in center of field. All stars seemed white or gray. To find, aim scope at Vega first. In the finder, Vega is very bright and a pair of stars, one a double, are nearby. Move toward the one not a double. A third prominent star can then be seen. The nondouble and the third form one side of a parallelogram of bright stars. Move away from Vega perpendicular to that line to find the opposite side with two bright stars, and a dimmer one ¼ the way across the line. The ring nebula is right at the midpoint of the line. Center the finder there and, if the finder is aligned well, the ring nebula is in the field of a low-power (30x, 40mm plössl in my case) eyepiece. It appears as a fuzzy ring, the hole possibly not evident. Center it before using higher power. At 200x (6mm plössl) it was too dim to work with, though it nearly filled the field of view.