Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 7009: The Saturn Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 30, 1997 is “NGC 7009: The Saturn Nebula,” an image. It is credited to Credit: B. Balick (U. Washington) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA. The original explanation runs about 107 words.

NGC 7009: The Saturn Nebula
Credit: B. Balick (U. Washington) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“The layers of the Saturn Nebula give a complex picture of how this planetary nebula was created. The above picture , taken in April 1996 and released last week, allows a better understanding of the mysterious process that transformed a low-mass star into a white dwarf star .”

— APOD editors, December 30, 1997

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 30, 1997
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: B. Balick (U. Washington) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 107 words

All of December 1997 → · 1997 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

SaturnNebulae

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 30 in other years

On Amazon

Popular picks for space fans

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.