Cygnus Loop

Notes

This is the Cygnus Loop, containing the Veil Nebula. This is a supernova remnant. From Wikipedia, the source supernova was 20 times more massive than our sun and exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. Estimates of the distance from earth has changed but the current value is about 2400 LY away. The overall Veil is quite large, with the distance between the left edge and right edge estimated to be over 120 LYs.

This is my first foray into a mosaic. This image is actually imaging of 6 sections of the sky that were then stitched to form this wideview image. And it is wideview! The width here is over 6 times the apparent diameter of the moon. Look up and imagine 6 times the moon width and you will get an idea of large an area of the sky this covers. Couple that with the fact that it is that far away adds more perspective. That the violence of a supernova explosion (coupled with some expansion of the universe) can spread something that exploded at a point so far apart is mind boggling.

I have previously captured portions of this at different times. This is the western veil and this is eastern veil. The coloring is different in that these were standard RGB palette while the Cygnus Loop here is in the so called HOO palette.

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Cygnus Loop

Aug 2022

Gallery

Notes