A Spectre in the Eastern
Veil
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the
Day
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 and
covers 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 estimated distance, a reassuring 1,400 light-years
from planet Earth.
In the composite of
image data recorded through broad and narrow band filters,
emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong
emission from oxygen atoms in blue-green hues. Of course, in the western part
of the Veil lies another seasonal apparition, the Witch's Broom.
