Kochu/26-5-12
Name : NGC6960 Western Veil Nebula (Witch's Broom), Sharpless 103
Constellation: Cygnus
Magnitude: 7.9
Angular Size: 70 '.
Date/Time: 19 th May 2012/ 0300-0600 hrs
Mount/Scope/Reducer/Mount control: SW EQ6 Pro/SW 120 ED, 900 mmFL/Meade 0.63 FR/EQDir/CDC
Guider: WO 80 SD@FL 480 mm /DSI Pro/PHD/ Pulse Guide thru EQDir.
Camera : QSI 583 WS @ Minus 10 Deg C.
Filters: Astrodon Gen II LRGB.
Image details: 5 x 600 L/ 3 x 300 R/ 3 x 300 G/ 3 x 300 B Total : hrs: min: Captured using Maxim
DL 5.18
Processing Details: Maxim DL 5.18/Adobe CS4/NoiseWare. Darks only
Object details:
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 large but relatively faint supernova remnant.
The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to
cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times the area, of the
full moon). The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but recent evidence supports a distance
of about 1,470 light-years.
The Witch's Broom appears to lie close to the bright star 52 Cygni, the brightest star in the frame at
top center, but 52 Cygni is just a foreground star at a distance of 206 light years that is aligned by
coincidence along the same line of sight
Even though the nebula is relatively bright, it is spread over so large an area that the surface
brightness is quite low, so the nebula is notorious among astronomers as being difficult to see
visually. However, an observer can see the nebula clearly in a telescope using an OIII filter
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 