One clear night in July 2017

Widefield image of the Western Veil

Enlarged detail of NGC 6970 Western Veil Nebula 'The Witches Broom' Detail

" After many poor weather nights at the Jodrell Plank Observatory, we have finally benefitted from some clear night skies. On the night of the 31st of July and the morning of the 1st of August we managed to have the 127mm. Meade Apo-Refractor operational for four hours - taking images of NGC6970, Messier15 and Messier 27. Today my old chum Pip Stakkert has been busy with the imaging team preparing these deep sky images" - Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"Ten thousand years ago or more, our ancestors looking up into the constellation Cygnus the Swan will have seen a bright light as a star exploded in a supernova. The veil nebula  is the shock wave from that explosion which is ploughing through the instellar medium. Ionised hydrogen and oxygen can be seen glowing in different colours. The 'Witches Broom'spans about 35 light years and is approximately 1400 light years away. The bright star is 52 Cygni and although it appears linked to the nebula has nothing to do with the original supernova". - Pip Stakkert - Imaging Team Leader

The Eastern Veil imaged from the Jodrell Plank Observatory back in 2015

Messier 15 in the constellation Pegasus

 

Messier 15 Globular Star cluster

"M15 is about 33,600 light-years from Earth, and 175 light years in diameter. It has an absolute magnitude of -9.2, which translates to a total luminosity of 360,000 times that of the Sun. Messier 15 is one of the most densely packed globulars known in the Milky Way galaxy. Its core has undergone a contraction known as 'core collapse' and it has a central density cusp with an enormous number of stars surrounding what may be a central black hole.
Home to over 100,000 stars, the cluster is notable for containing a large number of variable stars (112) and pulsars (8), including one double neutron star system, M15 C. M15 also contains Pease 1, the first planetary nebula discovered within a globular cluster in 1928. Just three others have been found in globular clusters since then". Credit: Wikipedia

Widefield image of the Dumbell Nebular M27 in the constellation Vulpecula 'The Fox'

Planetary Nebula Messier 27

Final enlargement and colour adjustments to bring out the central 'knots' and the 'white dwarf' star more or less in the centre of the nebula

"A planetary nebula, often abbreviated as PN or plural PNe, is a kind of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from old red giant stars late in their lives. The word "nebula" is Latin for mist or cloud, and the term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer that originated in the 1780s with astronomer William Herschel because when viewed through his telescope, these objects resemble the rounded shapes of planets. Herschel's name for these objects was popularly adopted and has not been changed  They are a relatively short-lived phenomenon, lasting a few tens of thousands of years, compared to a typical stellar lifetime of several billion years.
A mechanism for formation of most planetary nebulae is thought to be the following: at the end of the star's life, during the red-giant phase, the outer layers of the star are expelled by strong stellar winds. After most of the red giant's atmosphere is dissipated, the ultraviolet radiation of the hot luminous core, called a planetary nebula nucleus (PNN), ionizes the outer layers earlier ejected from the star. Absorbed ultraviolet light energises the shell of nebulous gas around the central star, causing it to appear as a brightly coloured planetary nebula.

The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light-years.
This object was the first planetary nebula to be discovered; by Charles Messier in 1764. At its brightness of visual magnitude 7.5 and its diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible in binoculars." Credit: Wikipedia