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Yesterday i reached m 15.7 from my backyard using again a photometric chart from the stars around M57.
It was clear, very clear but not really as dark as it can not get dark in this time of year.
Yet no central star...

BTW M27 was staggering, unbelievable

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I had a rather staggering event a couple of nights ago myself. I had the NexStar 9.25 SCT out on the driveway (ZLM 5.6 or so) and had just put in my 5-8mm Speers Waler eyepiece in (297x) to look at the field around M57 when to my startled eyes the central star was immediately visible with averted vision, appearing steadily for a few precious seconds! It then (as usual) quickly vanished as if it was "shy" of being seen . I kept working the area around M57 at from 297x to 480x using that same eyepiece and my photometric sequence around the Ring to see how faint I was actually going. The magnitude 14.6 star just northwest of the ring was visible just about constantly, and the 15.3 star just west of it was seen about half the time. When seeing really settled down, the magnitude 15.7 star just off the west edge of M57 became visible perhaps 20% of the time, so I judged that to be the magnitude limit for the night. Every once in a while, my glance went back to the ring itself, and sure enough, the central star popped out at least two or three times, but again quickly vanished with the variations in seeing. The most surprising thing is that all this happened on a night that I had judged to be only "so-so" from a brief look up with my unaided eye. Just goes to show you what high power and a little patience will do. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info

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