Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 September 19
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                           Along the Western Veil
                   Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Min Xie

   Explanation: [5]Delicate in appearance, these filaments of shocked,
   glowing gas, are draped across planet Earth's sky toward the
   constellation of Cygnus. They form the western part of [6]the Veil
   Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large [7]supernova remnant, an
   expanding cloud born of the death explosion of a massive star. Light
   from the original supernova explosion likely reached Earth over 5,000
   years ago. Blasted out in the cataclysmic event, the interstellar shock
   wave plows through space sweeping up and exciting interstellar
   material. The glowing filaments are really more like long ripples in a
   sheet seen almost edge on, remarkably well separated into atomic
   hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue-green) gas. Also known as the Cygnus
   Loop, the [8]Veil Nebula now spans nearly 3 degrees or about 6 times
   the diameter of the full Moon. While that translates to over 70
   light-years at its estimated distance of 1,500 light-years, [9]this
   telescopic image of the western portion spans about half that distance.
   Brighter parts of the western Veil are recognized as separate nebulae,
   including The [10]Witch's Broom (NGC 6960) along the top of this view
   and [11]Pickering's Triangle (NGC 6979) below and left.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
              [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1909/veilXie.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/mxcoppell/
   5. https://www.astrobin.com/hsoi5c/?nc=user
   6. http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/veil.html
   7. http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/supernovas.html
   8. http://archive.stsci.edu/fuse/scisumm/sci_cyglpstar.html
   9. https://www.astrobin.com/hsoi5c/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180408.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171110.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190918.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190919
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190920.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/