The Veil Nebula | FiIaments of The Cygnus Loop: Image 2 | Mayall Telescope

The Veil Nebula | Filaments of The Cygnus Loop: Image 2 | Mayall Telescope

These faint filaments (IC 1340) are part of a large supernova remnant (SNR) called the Cygnus Loop, located about 1,500 light-years from Earth. Astronomers estimate the supernova explosion that produced the Veil Nebula occurred between 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. The filaments are the remains of a star that exploded 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. The original supernova would have been bright enough to be seen clearly from Earth with the naked eye. The star—that was 20 times the mass of the Sun—lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy.

The Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), located in the constellation Cygnus, is an emission nebula measuring nearly 3° across. Arcs of the loop, known collectively as the Veil Nebula or Cirrus Nebula, emit in the visible electromagnetic range. Radio, infrared, and X-ray images reveal the complete loop. The Cygnus Loop extends over three times the size of the full moon in the night sky, and is tucked next to one of the “swan’s wings” in the constellation of Cygnus.

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. 

The image was generated with observations in the Oxygen [OIII] (blue), Sulphur [S II] (green) and Hydrogen-Alpha (orange) filters. In this image, North is left, East is down.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after the American observational astronomer of the same name. The telescope saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest in the world at that time.

Learn more about the Mayall Telescope: 

https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/kpno/telescopes/nicholas-mayall-4m-telescope

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Release Date: June 30, 2020

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