William Herschel discovered NGC 7009 = H IV-1 on 7 Sep 1782, over a year before he began his sweeps, while still reviewing naed-eye stars and discovering double stars. This was Herschel's first documented deep sky discovery (Wolfgang Steinicke found an unpublished discovery of NGC 6535 on 24 Aug 1780 while he inspected the Flamsteed stars). It was found with either his 6.2-inch or his 12-inch f/20 reflector ("small 20-foot") built in 1776 to survey the Messier objects. He described "a curious nebula, or what else to call it I do not know. It is of a shape somewhat oval, nearly circular, and with this power [460] appears to be about 10 or 15" diameter. It is of the same shape with 278 but much less in appearance. With 932 it is still the same shape but much larger. So that its appearance seems to follow the law of magnifying, from whence it is clear that it is of some real magnitude in the heavens and not a glare of light. The brightness in all the powers does not differ so much as if it were of a planetary nature but seems to be of the starry kind, tho' no star is visible with any power. It is all over of nearly the same brightness. The compound eyepiece will not distinguish it from a fixt star, at least not sensibly...". He observed the planetary during 6 sweeps with his 18.7" and on 2 Aug 1788 (sweep 851) logged, "The planetary nebula, considerably oval, in the direction of the parallel nearly. Of a bluish light, but not very well defined."

Wilhelm Struve independently found NGC 7009 (∑ 8) in 1825 or 1826 with the 9.6-inch Great Dorpat refractor. It was included in his list of 9 "Nebulae dectae" in an appendix to his main catalogue of double stars. Auwers and d'Arrest measured accurate positions. Lord Rosse, Romney Robinson and George Johnstone Stoney observed the planetary on 23 Oct 1848 resulting in a sketch (by Stoney) and description, "we have not detected any perforation, but it has ansae, which probably indicate a surrounding nebulous ring seen edgeways".

Stoney or Rosse made another observation on 16 Aug 1849 and measured the "position of ring taken with an eyepiece furnished with a level and a position circle. Inclination of ring to horizon 9°." Although the nickname "Saturn Nebula" was not mentioned in Robinson's report to the Royal Irish Academy, the description in the 1880 publication (given as 16 Sep 1849) states, "Saturn neb. Pos of ring 81 deg".

Using a 9.5" refractor in 1856, Father Secchi sketched NGC 7009 and noted the nebula was fainter at the ends of the major axis and brighter along the north and south sides (AN 43, 157).

In 1867 Lassell reported his "Observations with the Four-foot Equatoreal at Malta" and his description from 23 Aug 1862 begins "My first impression of this Nebula was that it was a sky-blue likeness of Saturn". In a letter dated 26 Sep 1862, he goes into much more detail: In directing my large equatoreal upon the well-known planetary nebula situated in AR 20h 56m N.P.D. 101° 56' (1862), it has revealed so marvellous a conformation of this object that I cannot forbear to send you a drawing of it [see www.docdb.net/history/texts/display.php?article=1863rsps___12__269l], with some description of its appearance. With comparatively low powers, e.g. 231and 285, it appears at first sight as a vividly light-blue elliptic nebula, with a slight prolongation of the nebula, or a very faint star, at or near the ends of the transverse axis. In this aspect the nebula resembles in form the planet Saturn when the ring is seen nearly edgewise. Attentively viewing it with higher powers, magnifying respectively 760, 1060, and 1480 times, and under the most favourable circumstances which have presented themselves, I have discovered within the nebula a brilliant elliptic ring, extremely well defined, and apparently having no connexion with the surrounding nebula, which indeed has the appearance of a gaseous or gauze-like envelope, scarcely interfering with the sharpness of the ring, and only diminishing somewhat its brightness. This nebulous envelope extends a little further from the ends of the conjugate than from the ends of the transverse axis; indeed, it is but very faintly prolonged, and only just traceable towards the preceding and following stars....

Lassell's sketch shows the two ansae or handles as faint stars but the outer halo does not extend as far as the ansae. Hermann Vogel produced an excellent sketch on 20 Sep 1883 using the 27" refractor at Vienna. Besides the prominent inner elliptical ring and an oval darker central hole, the outer halo extends ENE-WSW and tapers on the ends with a star-like knot on the WSW end.

200/250mm - 8" (10/13/81): bright, small, blue-green, high surface brightness. Rays extending outward are suspected, particularly on the western side in excellent seeing at 200x.

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/3/83): similar view to 17.5", but the eastern extension was more difficult to view.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/10/91): extremely bright, fairly small, very high surface brightness, blue-green color, about 30" diameter to the main oval body. At 412x, the two famous extensions or "jets" are easily visible extending WSW-ENE from the oval disc using direct vision. The western extension is brighter and a very small knot (ansae) is visible at moments with concentration at the tip of the west extension. A faint outer shell surrounds the bright disc. Numerous additional observations made since 9/14/85.

600/800mm - 24" (7/25/14): viewed at 1000x in good seeing at Lassen National Park (elevation 8200 ft). The intense, inner annulus is 30"x18" with a bright, moderately thick green rim and darker center. The central star was nearly visible steadily within the darker center. The oval annulus was slightly irregular in surface brightness. It was surrounded by a rounder, fainter envelope, which varied slightly in brightness, particularly on the north side, which contained a noticeable knot. The fairly narrow jets were readily visible, though brighter on the west side. An obvious knot ("ansa") that was slightly elongated was visible at the tip of the western jet. The eastern extension only had a weak brightening at the tip.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/29/16): the remarkable Saturn Nebula was viewed at 1084x. The intense, inner "ring" is very elongated (~25"x10") with an unusual warped appearance. The inner ring is brighter on the west end. The rounder shell extends ~30"x25", slightly elongated WSW-ENE and contains an obvious "knot" on the north side of the shell. The ansae ("handles" at the end of the jets) varied in size and orientation, with the western ansae larger, brighter and angled outward on the north end. The central star was easily visible.

48" (10/24/14): at 610x; the western ansae or "handle" at the end of the jet appeared as a small, narrow bar, roughly perpendicular to the extension, but slightly tilted, so the north end was pointing outward (west). The eastern ansae was much smaller but with careful viewing was slightly elongated and tilted in a mirrored orientation. Also, a very small, low contrast knot was noted on the north end of the outer shell. Otherwise, the details mentioned in the observation from last November were all noted.

48" (11/1/13): the double-shell structure was fascinating at 813x. The bright, inner ring was surprisingly elongated WSW-ENE, ~30"x10", with an irregular surface brightness and uneven thickness. The inner darker hole was also elongated, extending nearly the length of the nebula and was punctuated by a fairly easy central star. This annulus is encased in a rounder, outer shell, ~30"x25" diameter, with a slightly irregular rim (brighter at the north edge). Extending from the main body were the two easily visible "jets" extending WSW-ENE with prominent "ansae" (handles) at each tip [separation 44"] with the western tip slightly brighter. The color was generally greenish, though the outer halo had a salmon-colored tinge.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb