Veil Nebula in mapped color (NGC 6992)

clic for 35% size 886 x 1340 (568 kB)

Clic here for 70% size 1771x2680 (1500 kB)


About this Image

The eastern part of the Veil Nebula (NGC 6992) together with the other parts is a remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred about30.000 - 40.000 years ago.
This image in mapped (false) color represents the different emission lines as following:
S-II at 671.9 nm and 673.0 nm is assigned to red
H-alpha at 656.3 nm is assigned to green
O-III at 495.9 nm and 500.7 nm is assigned to blue.
This is known as the typical Hubble palette (i.e. pillars of creation)
Checkout a more realistic color version here.

The nebula is located 1,400 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus.
North is up.


Technical Details
Optics

410 mm cassegrain in corrected prime focus at f/3

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -15C, internal filter wheel
Filters All Astronomik (H-alpha 15 nm, O-III, S-II)
Date June 25 - July 17 , 2005
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions mag 5 sky, temperature 15-20 C,
Exposure S-II:Ha:O-III = 180:180:120 minutes, (30-minute sub-exposures),
all 1x1.
Processing Image aquisition, calibration and color synthesis in Maxim DL 4.0;
Photoshop: levels, curves, color balance, light unsharp masking;