January 31, 2016

Supernova Remnant: The Veil Nebula

Supernova Remnant: The Veil Nebula

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago.

Called the Veil Nebula, the debris is one of the best-known supernova remnants, deriving its name from its delicate, draped filamentary structures. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth, and resides about 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.

This view is a mosaic of six Hubble pictures of a small area roughly two light-years across, covering only a tiny fraction of the nebula’s vast structure.

This close-up look unveils wisps of gas, which are all that remain of what was once a star 20 times more massive than our sun. The fast-moving blast wave from the ancient explosion is plowing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas, emitting light. The nebula lies along the edge of a large bubble of low-density gas that was blown into space by the dying star prior to its self-detonation.

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team
Explanation from: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/veil-nebula-supernova-remnant

1 comment:

  1. Wow wow wish I could have seen these colors back in the seventies and eighties boy them would have been some really good parties thank you each picture that I see keeps getting better and better I can't wait to see what else is out there thank you for this wonderful site and all these beautiful shots our universe is just amazing again thank you

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