Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6960  ·  The star 52 Cyg  ·  Veil Nebula
NGC6960 - WEST VEIL NEBULA, Emanuele La Barbera
NGC6960 - WEST VEIL NEBULA
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NGC6960 - WEST VEIL NEBULA

NGC6960 - WEST VEIL NEBULA, Emanuele La Barbera
NGC6960 - WEST VEIL NEBULA
Powered byPixInsight

NGC6960 - WEST VEIL NEBULA

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Description

NGC 6960 is a region of ionized gas that is part of a supernova remnant present in the constellation Cygnus. This supernova remnant is known as the Cygnus Loop.
It is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago a star with a mass 20 times greater than that of the Sun exploded and given the (approximate) distance of 2400 light years, it is thought that at the moment of the explosion, the supernova would have been so bright that be visible even during the day.
The Cygnus Loop was first observed by William Herschel in 1784 and described it as a branching nebulosity. Using modern CMOS and CCD cameras and making long exposures, different filaments are detected which in turn are made up of a network of other minor filaments, increasingly thin and branched (see photo). In particular, with the acquisition technique we have used, the gases of ionized hydrogen (red) and ionized oxygen (blue) are clearly visible.
The image was obtained by me and Michele Russo.

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