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Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009)
planetary nebula in Aquarius
The Saturn Nebula is a small planetary nebula in Aquarius whose side lobes look like the rings of Saturn seen edge-on. It is bright and blue-green, and shows a lot of structure with enough focal length. It is a classic subject for long focal lengths and narrowband imaging.
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// Key facts
- Catalog
- NGC 7009
- Also known as
- C 55, Caldwell 55
- Type
- planetary nebula
- Constellation
- Aquarius
- Size
- 0.5′ across
- Brightness
- Magnitude 8
- Distance
- about 5,000 light-years
- Peak month (any location)
- Aug
- Typical prime months
- May to Oct
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Filter
- OIII or dual-band / UHC filter
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How to image Saturn Nebula
- It is only about half an arcminute across, so use 1,500 to 3,000 mm.
- OIII gives the strongest signal for the main shell.
- Good seeing and careful guiding matter more than total exposure.
Framing: what focal length?
NGC 7009 is small, so a "60% of the frame" focal length would be impractical. Here is how much of an APS-C frame it covers at common long focal lengths; expect to crop.
| Focal length | Share of the frame width |
|---|---|
| 1,000 mm | about 1% |
| 2,000 mm | about 1% |
| 3,000 mm | about 2% |
How high does it climb from your latitude?
The highest point NGC 7009 reaches in the sky. Above about 60° is excellent, 30° to 60° is workable, and under 30° you are looking through a lot of air.
| Latitude | Highest point | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 55°N (Scotland, Alaska) | 24° | Stays low |
| 45°N (Minneapolis, Milan) | 34° | Workable |
| 35°N (Los Angeles, Tokyo) | 44° | Workable |
| 25°N (Miami, Cairo) | 54° | Workable |
| 35°S (Sydney, Santiago) | 66° | High in the sky |
Also worth imaging
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