The Saturn Nebula Kind of Looks Like the Planet in a Small Telescope, but in One of the Most Powerful Telescopes on Earth, it Looks Like This

Saturn is an icon. There’s nothing else like it in the Solar System, and it’s something even children recognize. But there’s a distant object that astronomers call the Saturn nebula, because from a distance it resembles the planet, with its pronounced ringed shape. The Saturn nebula bears no relation to the planet, except in shape. …

It’s about five thousand light years away, so in a small backyard telescope, it does resemble the planet. But when astronomers train large telescopes on it, the illusion falls apart.

Scientists at Spain’s Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) were part of a recent study of the Saturn nebula. Their paper, called “An imaging spectroscopic survey of the planetary nebula NGC 7009 with MUSE” was published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. 

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The Saturn nebula, or NGC 7009 as it’s known, is one of the most complex planetary nebula out there, and that complexity makes it an intriguing object of study for astronomers and astrophysicists. Why wouldn’t it be? Just look at it.

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