The Eastern Veil Nebula - NGC 6992

 

The Eastern Veil Nebula in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Originally captured with the Meade 127mm Apo-refractor and a Canon 400d Camera. Data rework by Pip Stakkert in Oct 2022.

"The amazing improvements in astro-software really emphasize the benefits of retaining old data captured at the Jodrell Plank Observatory in previous years. The eastern veil is a portion of  the 'Cygnus Loop'. The Cygnus loop  was created by a star 20 times more massive than our sun which exploded in a supernova sometime between 10 thousand and twenty thousand years ago. The loop covers approximately 3 degrees in the sky (larger than the full moon) and in portions is just visible to the eye through a medium aperture telescope on a moonless night.   The nebula is visible as filaments of ionized gas and recent estimates put it some 2400 light years distant from the Earth. Together with the many stars visible in the Milky Way in this area of the Summer Sky, the Cygnus Loop is an astronomical feature of considerable beauty". - George Hammer  staff astro-geologist at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

As above but with reduced stars