AstroBinAstroBin
Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  The star 52 Cyg
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NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom
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NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom

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Description

For over 10,000 years the shock front seen in this image has been racing through space at close to 1.5 million miles per hour.  A supernova annihilated its host star, creating a shock wave that we now see interacting with the cooler, stationary gases of the interstellar medium.  The result is a colorful display of excited gases. This supernova remnant, NGC 6960, is part of the Veil Nebula Complex or Cygnus Loop.  It is commonly referred to as the Witches Broom, this being a closeup of the western end of the broom. 

I am reminded that what I am looking at is part of a wonderful cosmic recycling process.  It is a humbling thought to realize that the iron in our blood and calcium in our bones once belonged to the core of expired stars and found their way to our stellar neighborhood, and eventually our earth and bodies, by a similar process to what we are witnessing here.

“The more we learn about the universe, the less it looks like a great machine and the more it looks like a great thought”  -Sir Arthur Eddington  

Image Acquisition:
Date- August 2022
Location- Starlodge Observatory, Fairview, Utah
Telescope- Planewave 17”
Camera- QHY 600M
Exposure- (LRGBHaOIII- 600s subs for LRGB, Ha/OIII 1200s subs)
Lum=18, R=16, G=13, B=11, Ha=9, OIII=12
Total=17 hours

Comments

Revisions

  • NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
    Original
  • NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
    D
  • NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
    E
  • Final
    NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
    F

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NGC 6960, A Close Look at the Broom, Kent Wood
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