The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope produced excellent images of a small portion of the Veil Nebula, part of the remnants of a supernova called the Cygnus loop.
Cygnus loop It is a large donut-shaped nebula located approximately 2,400 light years from Earth.
Also known as the W78 and Sharpless 103, it is actually an explosive blast from a supernova explosion that occurred 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Its name comes from the position of the northern constellations of Cygnus and covers an area 36 times the full moon.
The visual part of the supernova remains is known as the veil nebula, also known as the caterpillar or filamentous nebula.
“This nebula is about 20 times more star remnants than the sun that exploded 10,000 to 20,000 years ago,” said Hubble astronomers.
This new image consists of observations from Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) Optical part of the spectrum.
“This view combines images taken with three different filters to highlight the release from hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen atoms,” the astronomer said.
“The image shows just a small part of the Veil Nebula. If we could see the entire nebula without the help of a telescope, it would be as wide as six full moons were placed side by side.”
“The image captures the Veil Nebula at just one point, but it helps researchers understand how the remnants of the supernova have evolved over the decades.”
“Combining this snapshot with Hubble observations from 1994 reveals the movement of individual knots and gas filaments over that time, improving our understanding of this stunning nebula.”
Source: www.sci.news
