Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960)

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About this Image

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 about 1500 light-years. Here you see just the western part of the nebula area, designated as NGC 6960.
 


Technical Details

Optics

16" Cassegrain in primary focus at f/3, FL 1200mm

Mount DDM-85-XL direct drive GEM mount
Camera Nikon D810A with remote timer
Date Dec 2014
Location Wildon / Austria
Sky Conditions mag 19 sky, temperature 5 C
Exposure 50x1 min at ISO1600 combined, unguided
Programs used ImagesPlus
CCDStack
Photoshop CS5