Veil Nebula — NGC 6960

The Veil Nebula is the visible remnant of a supernova that exploded roughly 8,000 years ago in the constellation Cygnus. What you're looking at is a shockwave — the outer shell of a dead star, still expanding through interstellar space at 1.5 million kilometres per hour.

The filaments glow because the shockwave is slamming into surrounding gas, heating it until it radiates. Each color represents a different element being excited: sulfur (red), hydrogen (green), and oxygen (blue) in the Hubble palette.

This image uses the Foraxx palette — SHO narrowband with a synthetic luminance blended from hydrogen and oxygen channels. Thirty hours of integration time.

Technical Details

• Object: NGC 6960 — Western Veil Nebula (Witch's Broom)
• Distance: ~2,400 light-years
• Telescope: 80mm refractor @ 600mm FL
• Filters: SHO narrowband + synthetic HO luminance
• Processing: Foraxx palette
• Integration: 30 hours
• Location: Victoria, BC