A tantalising veil
This image shows a small portion of a nebula called the Cygnus Loop. Covering a region on the sky six times the diameter of the full Moon, the Cygnus Loop is actually the expanding blastwave from a stellar cataclysm - a supernova explosion - which occurred about 15,000 years ago.
This delicate Hubble Space Telescope image shows a tiny portion of the Cygnus loop, a supernova remnant in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. Measurements on this super-detailed image of a cosmic veil shows that the original supernova explosion took place only 5, 000 years ago.
Credit:ESA & Digitized Sky Survey (Caltech)
About the Image
Id: | heic0006b |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 10 October 2000, 15:00 |
Related releases: | heic0006 |
Size: | 1500 x 746 px |
About the Object
Name: | Cygnus Loop, Veil Nebula |
Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant |
Distance: | 1500 light years |
Constellation: | Cygnus |
Category: | Nebulae |
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 20 56 4.43 |
Position (Dec): | 31° 56' 27.78" |
Field of view: | 2.48 x 1.23 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 29.4° right of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical R | 656 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |