wide field astrophotography
Located roughly 2,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Cygnus Loop (or Veil Nebula Complex) is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust. The colourful appearance in this supernova remnant is generated by variations in the temperatures and densities of the chemical elements present.
Camera: ASI2600MC | Scope: 61mm WO Zenithstar 61 | Exposure: 2h 33m | Date: 2023-07-21 & 2023-08-12
Image updated to combine 57minutes of additional data collected
The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of the explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter or about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon. (Wikipedia)
annotated version detailing some of the surrounding deep sky objects
There are several prominent deep space objects lying within the complex. Among others, they include the Western Veil nebula (also known as NGC 6960, the Witch's Broom nebula or the Filamentary nebula), the star 52 Cygni and the Eastern Veil nebula (also known as NGC 6992).
