A Spectre in the Eastern
Veil
Continue reading for a description of this beautiful nebula
Frightening forms
and scary faces are a mark of the Halloween season. They also haunt this cosmic
close-up of the eastern Veil Nebula.
The Veil Nebula itself
is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death
explosion of a massive star.
While the Veil is
roughly circular in shape covering nearly 3 degrees on the sky in the
constellation Cygnus, this portion of the eastern Veil spans only 1/2 degree,
about the apparent size of
the Moon.
That translates to
12 light-years at the Veil's reassuring estimated distance of 1,400 light-years
from planet Earth.
In the composite of
image data recorded through narrow band filters,
emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong
emission from oxygen atoms in blue-green hues.
In the western part of
the Veil lies another seasonal apparition, the Witch's Broom.