Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009)
A planetary nebula in Aquarius whose faint ansae (extensions or 'handles') resemble the rings of Saturn when viewed with larger telescopes. The bright central region is visible in smaller scopes.
Planetary nebula in Aquarius. Magnitude 8.0.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 72° above the southern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 75° above the southern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 5 Aug, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
- Your eyes: Not visible to the eye.
- 10x50 binoculars: Looks like a faint star; it needs a telescope.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): A small bright disc at 100x or more, often blue-green.
- A camera: Tiny on camera: it needs 2,000 mm or more of focal length on a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 42″ × 31″, 1/44 of the Moon's width (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Brightness: magnitude 8.0. Fainter than the faintest stars in Georgetown (4.3) and Lethem (6.0): binoculars or a telescope.
- Distance: 3,000 to 5,000 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago.
Apparent size from OpenNGC (Mattia Verga), CC-BY-SA-4.0.
What it is made of
- Type
- Planetary Nebula
- Distance
- Approx. 3,000 - 5,000 Lightyears
- True size
- Approx. 0.5 Lightyears diameter (main body)
- Ionized Oxygen (OIII): Strong greenish emission in main body
- Ansae (Jets): Extensions from main nebula, reddish (NII, H-alpha)
- Central White Dwarf: Hot, ionizing star
More deep-sky objects: Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) · Dumbbell Nebula (M27) · Ring Nebula (M57) · Blue Snowball Nebula (NGC 7662) · Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) · Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76)