Planetary nebula
Saturn Nebula (NGC7009)
In Aquarius (Aqr) • Magnitude 8.0 • 0.7 arcminutes
Open the free AstroPlanner with Saturn Nebula pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
A bright planetary nebula in Aquarius with ansae giving it a Saturn-like profile.
Saturn Nebula at a glance
| Catalog IDs | N 7009 |
| Type | Planetary nebula |
| Constellation | Aquarius (Aqr) |
| Right ascension | 21h 04m 11s |
| Declination | -11° 21' 48" |
| Apparent magnitude | 8.00 |
| Surface brightness | 15.5 mag/arcsec² |
| Angular size | 0.7 × 0.5 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 34° |
| Best imaging months | Aug, Sep, Oct |
How to image Saturn Nebula
Saturn Nebula sits in the constellation Aquarius at right ascension 21h 04m 11s and declination -11° 21' 48". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window. As a planetary nebula, Saturn Nebula typically appears small and intense, so a long focal length and OIII or Ha narrowband filters bring out structure.