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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2016
XMM-Newton EPIC observations of the planetary nebula NGC 7009, the Saturn Nebula, have detected extended X-ray emission from its central cavity. The diffuse X-ray emission must originate in the shocked fast stellar wind. Spectral analyses show that the temperature of the hot gas is 1.7 x 106 K. The RMS density derived from the volume emission measure is a few tens H-atom cm-3. The hot gas does not appear over-pressurized with respect to the nebular shell. The Saturn Nebula may represent an evolutionary stage at which the dynamic effects of the hot gas in the central cavity on the cold nebular shell starts to decline due to the diminishing strength of the fast stellar wind and the expansion of the central cavity.