The Veil Nebula is one of the most spectacular supernova remnants in the sky. The entire shell spans about 3 degrees on the sky, corresponding to about 6 full moons.

The Veil Nebula is a prototypical middle-aged supernova remnant, and is an ideal laboratory for studying the physics of supernova remnants because of its unobscured location in our Galaxy, its relative closeness, and its large size. Also known as the Cygnus Loop, the Veil Nebula is located in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. It is about 1,500 light-years away from Earth.

Stars in our Galaxy, and in other galaxies, are born and then die. How long a star lives depends on how massive it is. The more massive the star, the shorter its life. When a star significantly more massive than our Sun runs out of fuel, it collapses and blows itself apart in a catastrophic supernova explosion. A supernova releases so much light that it can outshine a whole galaxy of stars put together. The exploding star sweeps out a huge bubble in its surroundings, fringed with actual stellar debris along with material swept up by the blast wave. This glowing, brightly colored shell of gas forms a nebula that astronomers call a "supernova remnant."

Such a remnant can remain visible long after the initial explosion fades away. Scientists estimate that the Veil supernova explosion occurred some 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.

This image, ( NGC 6992 ) is the eastern section of a larger area of the Veil Nebula and was captured with a Canon 40D DSLR and 8"  F/5 Ritchey Chretien Astrograph. Total exposure is 60 minutes with 20 x 3mins @ ISO 1600. Images captured, aligned and stacked in Nebulosity. Digital Development in Images Plus and Photoshop CS5.