The WEstern Veil Nebula, NGC 6960, in Cygnus
NGC 6960 is at the western side of the Veil complex of nebulae. North is left in this image. The Veil is a supernova remnant and consists of gases blasted off an exploding star and now expanding through space. The luminescence of the gases is caused by heating due to the high-velocity shock wave. The western Veil, NGC 6960, and eastern Veil, NGC 6992, form a circle, the Cygnus Loop, around the location of the original supernova. The two semicircles are separated by a third, unnumbered component, Pickering's Triangular Nebula. The eastern portion of the Veil is shown here.
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Date |
2003-07-03, -04 |
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Scope |
Takahashi Epsilon 160 at f/3.3 on A-P 1200GTO mount; unguided |
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Exposure |
SBIG ST-10XME camera with CFW-8a color wheel: 5 x 3 min 1x1 binning RGB. |
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Processing |
Acquired and color-combined in MaxIm, stretched in PhotoShop. |