NGC 6992: Filaments of the Veil Nebula

Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. About 7,500 years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula , also known as the Cygnus Loop. 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 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 . In images of the complete Veil Nebula , studious readers should be able to identify the above filaments on the lower left. The above image is a mosaic from the 2.5-meter Isaac Newton Telescope at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands . New Mirror: APOD now available in Arabic from Algeria