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| Sometimes the Moon looks mysterious. Seestar S30 video clip stacked and processed post capture. Image Credit Pip Stakkert. |
"Sometimes the Moon looks mysterious
Sometimes it appears cold and lonely
Sometimes it seems close
Sometimes far away
Sometimes it is a source of light pollution
But always, the Moon is Mozart's Queen of the Night"
Joel Cairo CEO the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
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| The Cygnus Loop a collection of composite images captured with the JPO's Seestar S30 in August and September 2026. Image Credit: Kurt Thrust. |
" We wanted to put together a panorama of individual images captured with the Seestar S30 to show the full extent of the Cygnus Loop in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. The Loop is quite large, 3 degrees in diameter, which is roughly equivalent to forty-five times the area presented by the Moon. Unfortunately, the night Kurt chose to capture the data started well but as the night proceeded conditions deteriorated, as the Moon rose and the clouds appeared. Consequently, the above composite image uses the best data we have from two or more autumnal nights". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory
"This image presents a composite astronomical collage showcasing key sub-regions of the Cygnus Loop (Sharpless 103), a large supernova remnant located approximately 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The mosaic brings together distinct narrow-band emission structures captured through astronomical imaging, highlighting the expanding shockwaves produced when a massive star exploded thousands of years ago.
Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 / The Witch's Broom)
Visible on the right side of the collage, the Western Veil exhibits delicate, filamentary shock fronts predominantly glowing in the light of ionized hydrogen (H alpha) and doubly-ionized oxygen (O III). The bright, central foreground star silhouetted along the filament is 52 Cygni, an unrelated spectroscopic binary that serves as a primary visual landmark for this segment of the remnant. The linear, swept-back tendrils illustrate where the expanding blast wave is encountering interstellar clouds, compressing and heating gas to tens of thousands of Kelvin.
Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC 6992 / NGC 6995)
Positioned on the left side of the collage, this arc represents the eastern boundary of the expanding blast wave. The prominent red hue corresponds to ionized hydrogen gas (H alpha emission at 656.3 nm), outlining dense, curtain-like sheets of gas viewed edge-on. The complex, curved geometry reveals localized variations in the density of the surrounding interstellar medium.
Pickering's Triangle (Fleming's Triangular Whisp / NGC 6979)
Located in the upper section and spanning toward the central background, this fainter, triangular network of delicate filaments represents a central cloud complex of the Cygnus Loop. Unlike the sharp outer arcs, Pickering’s Triangle exhibits an intricate, web-like structural diffuse emission, formed where the blast wave interacts with diffuse interstellar gas within the interior of the remnant shell". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory
