Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Filamentary nebula  ·  Lace-work nebula  ·  NGC 6960  ·  The star 52Cyg  ·  Veil nebula
NGC 6960 or Western Veil Nebula (revised processing), Stephen Harris
NGC 6960 or Western Veil Nebula (revised processing)
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NGC 6960 or Western Veil Nebula (revised processing)

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Description

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), a large but relatively faint supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times the area, of the full moon). The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) data supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years.

The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", "Finger of God", or "Filamentary Nebula") near the foreground star 52 Cygni;

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  • NGC 6960 or Western Veil Nebula (revised processing), Stephen Harris
    Original
  • Final
    NGC 6960 or Western Veil Nebula (revised processing), Stephen Harris
    B

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NGC 6960 or Western Veil Nebula (revised processing), Stephen Harris