The Veil Nebula is a very interesting object. This photo is the Eastern Half only, designation: NGC6992. The Western Half of the Veil not visible in this photo is NGC6960.

It is a Supernova Remnant. This ghostly structure is all that remains of a Red Giant Star that went Supernova about 5,000 years ago. The stars' hydrogen fuel depleted, the star underwent a massive explosion. To go Supernova it must have had a mass above 8 solar masses and the central core was larger than 1.4 solar masses. It exploded with unimaginable force, with internal temperatures reaching somewhere between 10-40 Billion Kelvin. Calculations suggest that once a Supernova collapse begins, it only takes a few seconds. It temporarily shines with the luminosity of about 10 Billion suns. As bright as all the stars in our Milkyway Galaxy combined ! Most likely it would be visible for a few weeks in broad daylight.

It has been suggested by some Astronomers that The Star of Bethlehem was a Supernova.

In our Galaxy, Supernovae occur on average about once in 140 years. Any of us could live to see one bright enough to be visible in daylight.

The green and yellow visible in this photo are a result of Ionized Oxygen. A phenomena not normally seen in Emission Nebula such as NGC7000 or M16.

The Full Veil Nebula has a diameter of about 65 light Years and is some 1,400 Light Years distant. The wispy structure is expanding at the rate of 70Km/second.

• Type: Supernova Remnant
• Distance From Earth: 1,400 Light Years
• Exposure Length: (4) x 45 Minutes (color) and (1) x 1Hr 30Min Hutech LPS Filterd Tech Pan used for Luminosity. Digitally Combined
• Focal Length: 530 @ f/3.3
• Guiding: ST-4 AE=A1-A2
• Film: Hypersensitized PJ400
• Instrument: Takahashi Epsilon 160 Hyperbolic Astrograph
• Date: 06SE02 and 07SE02 (color). 05OC02 (Tech Pan)
• Development: HC-110 Dilute B 11min@68 deg (Tech Pan)

Additional Notes: On Saturday 07SE02 I was able to show the Eastern Veil Nebula to my wife Lisa and my neighbor and fellow cottage owner in Lexington Denise Rodgers. We had no problem viewing its detail through the Nextar 80mm GT and a Lumicon UHC Filter. Very impressive!

The filtered Technical Pan shot allowed me to expose much longer than unfiltered. The 4 color exposures were used for the RGB(color) information in the photo while the much higher resolution Tech Pan was used for the Luminosity information.