The Veil Nebula is the spectacular result of a supernova explosion that occurred about 30,000 years ago towards the centre of the two main arcs. This image shows the western arc, designated NGC 6960. The bright magnitude 4 star in the centre is 52 Cygni. The Veil Nebula takes its name from the delicate filamentary structure of the expanding gas shells which appear in different colours owing to temperature variations in the gaseous elements that comprise the shell structure. This shock front is effectively sweeping the interstellar gas and dust as it expands, leaving the trailing region clearer with many more stars visible.

This image was taken on the 7th August 2010 with a Canon 40D and Stellarview 102ED Refractor. Only 8 five minute images were taken...I planned for 12 images but the clouds rolled in.