Witches Broom & Pickering´s Triangle
The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.
It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. 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 (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). While previous distance estimates have ranged from 1200 to 5800 light-years, a recent determination of 2400 light-years is based on direct astrometric measurements. (The distance estimates affect also the estimates of size and age.)
In modern usage, the names Veil Nebula, Cirrus Nebula, and Filamentary Nebula generally refer to all the visible structure of the remnant, or even to the entire loop itself. The structure is so large that several NGC numbers were assigned to various arcs of the nebula.
There are three main visual components:
• The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", Lacework Nebula, "Filamentary Nebula") near the foreground star 52 Cygni;
• The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 (together with NGC 6992 also known as "Network Nebula") and IC 1340; and
• Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.
Imaging telescope: Takahashi FSQ130ED
Imaging camera: ASI 2600MM
Mount: JTW Trident P75
Guiding telescope: Takahashi FS60CB
Guiding camera: QHY 5 II
Focal Extender / Reducer: None
Software: Sequence Generator Pro SGP (for capture) PHD 2 (guiding), Astro Pixel Processor, PixInsight.
Filters: Astrodon Ha (3nm), OIII (3nm) and Astrodon RGB.
Accessories: Robofocus Focuser controlled by Lunatico Armadillo, ATIK EFW 3, RB Focus Gaius, RB Focus Excalibur.
Dates: 9th - 16th Jun. 2024
Frames: (Total)
Astrodon Ha 30 x 600"
Astrodon OIII 30 x 600"
Astrodon RGB 3 x 40 x 60"
Total integration = 12 Hours
Center (RA, Dec): (311.962, 31.000)
Center (RA, hms): 20h 47m 50.972s
Center (Dec, dms): +30° 59' 58.956"
Size: 2.01 x 1.34 deg
Radius: 1.210 deg
Pixel scale: 1.2 arcsec/pixel
It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. 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 (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). While previous distance estimates have ranged from 1200 to 5800 light-years, a recent determination of 2400 light-years is based on direct astrometric measurements. (The distance estimates affect also the estimates of size and age.)
In modern usage, the names Veil Nebula, Cirrus Nebula, and Filamentary Nebula generally refer to all the visible structure of the remnant, or even to the entire loop itself. The structure is so large that several NGC numbers were assigned to various arcs of the nebula.
There are three main visual components:
• The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", Lacework Nebula, "Filamentary Nebula") near the foreground star 52 Cygni;
• The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 (together with NGC 6992 also known as "Network Nebula") and IC 1340; and
• Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.
Imaging telescope: Takahashi FSQ130ED
Imaging camera: ASI 2600MM
Mount: JTW Trident P75
Guiding telescope: Takahashi FS60CB
Guiding camera: QHY 5 II
Focal Extender / Reducer: None
Software: Sequence Generator Pro SGP (for capture) PHD 2 (guiding), Astro Pixel Processor, PixInsight.
Filters: Astrodon Ha (3nm), OIII (3nm) and Astrodon RGB.
Accessories: Robofocus Focuser controlled by Lunatico Armadillo, ATIK EFW 3, RB Focus Gaius, RB Focus Excalibur.
Dates: 9th - 16th Jun. 2024
Frames: (Total)
Astrodon Ha 30 x 600"
Astrodon OIII 30 x 600"
Astrodon RGB 3 x 40 x 60"
Total integration = 12 Hours
Center (RA, Dec): (311.962, 31.000)
Center (RA, hms): 20h 47m 50.972s
Center (Dec, dms): +30° 59' 58.956"
Size: 2.01 x 1.34 deg
Radius: 1.210 deg
Pixel scale: 1.2 arcsec/pixel
A closer look at a couple of sections of the full image: (You can click on either for an even closer look!)
Sky Map & Finding Chart
Ha, OIII & RGB in the image:
Annotated Image
