Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009)

The Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius. This is the remnant of a red giant star which has ejected its outer gaseous shell leaving behind a hot, dense, white-dwarf star. It has been estimated that 95% of all stars, including our Sun, will end their lives in this way.

The distance to the Saturn Nebula, in the constellation of Aquarius, is not known very acurately, with estimates ranging from 1400 light-years to 3900 light-years.

This image was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 28 April 1996, by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.