NGC 7009 - Saturn Nebula

NGC 7009 Saturn Planetary Nebula

Discovered by William Herschel in 1782, it has the faint appearance of a Saturn like planet and was once thought that it might be a planet.  According to Admiral Smyth, the Saturn Nebula was one of Struve's nine "Rare Celestial Objects".  This object is difficult to capture.  It has a very small apparent diameter of only 1.7 minutes of arc.

Date:  11-29-03

Telescope: RC14.5 prime focus at 3300mm        Camera:ST8XE

Exposure Time: LRGB 50min ;20min;20min;20min; 2x2bin

Processing: Maxim,reduced, DDP, Adobe combined