AAO image reference INT 8. « Previous || Next »
Top left is NE. Image width is about 31 arc min
© 1992-2002, Malin/IAC/RGO. Photograph from Isaac Newton Telescope plates by David Malin.
The Milky Way galaxy contains many traces of ancient supernova explosions, not least of which are the heavy metals we find in the earth's crust. There are few directly visible supernova remnants but the Veil nebula in Cygnus is one of the finest. This image shows a small portion of the eastern side of what is a large, almost spherical glowing shell of gas, about three degrees across, the expanding remains of a star that exploded between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago. The nebula (and thus its precursor star) is about 1900 light years distant and about 100 light years across. It is the result of the shockwave from the explosion exciting the tenuous interstellar medium and making it glow.
Entry from NGC 2000.0 (R.W. Sinnott, Ed.) © Sky Publishing Corporation, 1988:
IC 1340Nb 20 56.2 +31 04 s Cyg 25.possibly conn with 6995Related images
INT 7. NGC 6955 and IC 1340, part of the Veil nebula
AAT 78. Part of the Vela supernova remnant
AAT 78a. Part of the Vela supernova remnant (wide angle, no satellite trail)
AAT 78b. Part of the Vela supernova remnant (wide angle, with satellite trail)
AAT 84. NGC 2736, the 'Pencil nebula' in Vela
UKS 2. The Vela supernova remnant
UKS 2b. The Vela supernova remnant and part of the Gum nebula