M64, M27 and M57

Took a few images  today of a galaxy and a couple planetary nebulas.  The first one I'll feature is M64 in Coma Berenices.  This 9th magnitude galaxy is about 25 million light years away.   The Black Eye comes from a patch of dark dust which obscures the bright part of the galaxy behind it.

The next object is a fun one to image, and its been photographed to death.  Messier 27, or the Dumbbell Nebula.  It looks like an apple core to me...  The remnants of a dead star is about 1350 light years away in the constellation Vulpecula.  The central star is a white dwarf, and is the largest white dwarf known.

The 3rd object, I've imaged before, M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra.  This is an easy object because it is quite bright.  Although bright, it is small.  Although it can be seen in binoculars, they wont provide enough magnification to be able to tell what it is.  A telescope 6 inches in diameter, and about 100 power will show its ring like appearance.