This is a combination of ~3 hours of my own data and 8 panels of red and blue POSS-II data. The Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. This is the leftover gas and dust from a supernova explosion of a star some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. When the light from the supernova reached earth about 1,400 years after it occurred, (it is though to be about 1,400 light years distant) it would have light up the night sky in spectacular fashion. The supernova explosion may have been brighter than the full moon some 4-6,000 years ago when the light from the explosion reached us. Since this event happened before recorded history there aren't any records of what it would have looked like, but I'm sure that it was quite a sight to see! Currently there are some other stars close to the earth that will likely go supernova in the next couple hundred, thousand to even a million years from now. One in particular is the famous star Betelgeuse on the left shoulder of the constellation of Orion. Some suggest that it's even possible that Betelgeuse may have already gone supernova but since it's around 640 light years away if it went supernova today we wouldn't know about it for another 640 years!
A special thanks goes out to Terry Hancock of the Down Under Observatory for help with the processing of this image.
www.downunderobservatory.comPOSS-II Data:
8x Red Plates
8x Blue Plates
My Data:
20x 600" @640ISO Lights
20x Darks
20x Bias
20x Flats
Camera: Canon 6D
Scope: Williams Optics Star 71 Astrograph
Mount: Advanced VX
Guide Scope: Orion Mag Mini With ZWO ASI 120MCS
Capture Software: Backyard EOS
Guide Software: PHD
Stacking Software: Deep Sky Stacker
Final Processing: PSCC
Location: Los Padres National Forest, CA
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