Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Exploded Star
Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star.
About 7,000 years ago that star exploded in a
supernova leaving the
Veil Nebula.
At the time, the expanding cloud
was likely as bright as a crescent Moon, remaining
visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of
recorded history.
Today, the resulting supernova remnant, also known as the
Cygnus Loop, has faded and is
now visible only through a small telescope
directed
toward the
constellation of the Swan
(Cygnus).
The remaining Veil
Nebula
is physically huge, however, and even though it lies about 1,400
light-years distant, it covers over five times the size of the
full Moon.
The featured picture is a
Hubble Space Telescope mosaic of six images together
covering a span of only about two light years,
a small part of the expansive
supernova remnant.
In images of the
complete Veil Nebula, even
studious readers might not be able to
identify the featured filaments.