The Saturn Nebula, NGC 7009, is a planetary nebula in Aquarius whose thin side extensions recall the rings of Saturn seen edge-on through a small telescope.
At a glance
| type | nebula |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 4,050 light-years (1.24 kpc) |
| its light left it | 4,050 years ago |
| size in the piece | about 0.27 light-years acrossmodel |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with. Model marks a property of the piece’s galaxy model rather than a measurement.
About Saturn Nebula
NGC 7009 is the shed envelope of a dying Sun-like star, lit by the hot white dwarf left at its centre. William Herschel discovered it, and Lord Rosse later gave it its name: through his large telescope the faint extensions on either side looked like Saturn’s rings seen edge-on.
Those extensions, called ansae, end in bright knots of low-ionisation gas, moving outward along the nebula’s long axis, and their origin is still discussed. Inside them the nebula is a nested set of shells: an inner elongated cavity, a brighter rim, and a faint outer halo. Detailed maps from the Very Large Telescope trace how dust and ionised gas vary across it, making it one of the most thoroughly mapped planetary nebulae.
What you see in the piece
In the piece it is a small glowing cloud far below the plane of the disc, a point from the Sun until you fly to it.
Questions
Why is it called the Saturn Nebula?
Two faint extensions on opposite sides of its bright oval reminded Lord Rosse of Saturn’s rings seen edge-on.
How far away is the Saturn Nebula?
The Saturn Nebula is 4,050 light-years (1.24 kpc) from the Sun.