About 10,000 years ago, a bright new star appeared in the stellar firmament on a place that we now consider part of the constellation Cygnus (the Swan). It shined brilliantly for a few weeks before becoming so dim again to be invisible to human vision. Astronomers have calculated its position and age by studying the light reaching us from an extended filamentary cloud of interstellar gas known as the Veil Nebula. It is catalogued as entry 6960 in the New General Catalogue of Deep Sky Objects and classified as a supernova remnant, the expanding debris from the exploded star, plowing through interstellar matter and exciting hydrogen (red color) and oxygen atoms (blue - green) to make them glow. The distance to this object is not accurately measured but is about 1,500 light years away.

The Veil nebula is an extended object and consists of different parts, each catalogued with a different name. This image was shot with a small refractor telescope and a DSLR camera and depicts the Western part of the nebulosity, which is often referred to as the Witch's Broom nebula, the Filamentary nebula or the Lace-Work nebula.

The bright star at center is 52 Cygni, which is unrelated to the nebula itself since it is located much closer to the Earth, at about 200 light years. It is therefore a foreground star, just as all the other visible stars of our Milky Way Galaxy. The spikes by the way are an artifact, usually produced by images of reflector telescopes, but in this case digitally added with computer software for aesthetic reasons.

Thanks to everyone for viewing - clear skies!

Telescope: Orion EON ED 80/500 refractor

Mount: Modified Vixen Sphinx

Camera: Canon EOS 20Da

Filter: Astronomik CLS

Guiding: Skywatcher 80/400 refractor, Skywatcher Synguider

Light frames: 10 x 6 mins (total: 1 hour), ISO 1600, Custom WB, calibrated with darks

Date & Location: 9/5/2019 - Chalkidiki, Greece

Processing: DSS 4.2.3, Adobe Photoshop 2020 with Astronomy Tools Actions Set (spikes added to the brightest stars).

The Witch's Broom(NGC 6960) - also known as the Western Veil Nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

Shot earlier today! Moon at 97% Full

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Chiamata anche La Scopa di Strega è la parte occidentale della nebulosa Velo e catalogata come NGC 6960, caratterizzata dalla presenza della luminosissima stella 52 Cygni, sovrapposta in prospettiva ma estranea in realtà all'oggetto nebulare. Distante da noi circa 1470 anni luce , si estende per circa 35 anni luce , e’ composta da gas e polveri in espansione derivati dall’ esplosione di una supernova , stella collassata sulla sua stessa gravità con masse superiori a 9 volte quella del sole. Oggi notiamo i sempre piu' rarefatti filamenti nebulari fluttuare nel vuoto cosmico che ci regalano immagini stupefacenti per la loro particole bellezza

le riprese sono state effettuate dal Giardino di casa da Mogoro , Sardegna , Italia . La strumentazione utilizzata è la seguente :

SC Celestron C11 ridotto ad F2 a mezzo di hyperstar Starizzona mod. V3 ( F560), cam Asi 2600 MC , filtro Optolong Lpro; guida Takahashi FS60 F255 , cam Asi 224 mc ; Montatura Equatoriale Eq6 R pro , gestione strumenti Asi Air Pro ...

Dati di Scatto : riprese del 02 e 03/07/2022 , 97 light x 180" , 29 Dark , 39 Flat naturali ( fatti al tramonto del 02/07/22 senza flat box )

Spero sia di Vostro Gradimento !!

Cieli Sereni

© WJP Productions 2025

* Astronomy picture of the day - the witch's broom nebula

* Veil nebula

Rielaborazione Chiamata anche La Scopa di Strega è la parte occidentale della nebulosa Velo e catalogata come NGC 6960, caratterizzata dalla presenza della luminosissima stella 52 Cygni, sovrapposta in prospettiva ma estranea in realtà all'oggetto nebulare. Distante da noi circa 1470 anni luce , si estende per circa 35 anni luce , e’ composta da gas e polveri in espansione derivati dall’ esplosione di una supernova , stella collassata sulla sua stessa gravità con masse superiori a 9 volte quella del sole. Oggi notiamo i sempre piu' rarefatti filamenti nebulari fluttuare nel vuoto cosmico che ci regalano immagini stupefacenti per la loro particole bellezza

le riprese sono state effettuate dal Giardino di casa da Mogoro , Sardegna , Italia . La strumentazione utilizzata è la seguente :

SC Celestron C11 ridotto ad F2 a mezzo di hyperstar Starizona mod. V3 ( F560), cam Asi 2600 MC , filtro Optolong Lpro; guida Takahashi FS60 F255 , cam Asi 224 mc ; Montatura Equatoriale Eq6 R pro , gestione strumenti Asi Air Pro ...

Dati di Scatto : riprese del 02 e 03/07/2022 , 97 light x 180" , 29 Dark , 39 Flat naturali ( fatti al tramonto del 02/07/22 senza flat box )

Spero sia di Vostro Gradimento !!

Cieli Sereni

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, a large but relatively faint supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to approx 6 times the diameter of the full moon. The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) data supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years.

This is a 2 pane mosaic using the following equipment

Details:

M: Avalon Linear Fast reverse

T: Takahashi FSQ85 with 0.73x reducer

C: QSI 683 with 1.25" 3nm Astrodon Ha and OIII filters.

Pane 1 - 15x1800s Ha, 15x1800s OIII

Pane 2 - 15x1800s Ha, 15x1800s OIII

Total time: 30 hours

First Session with Optolong L-Extreme Filter

Sony a6000a - TS65Q APO

28 x 900s

ASI 294 MC PRO.

72 ED Skywatcher con reductor/aplanador 0.85.

Star Adventurer.

Guiado Asi 120mm Mini.

Ganancia 123/ Offset 30 -10ºc

L-Extreme 27x300s

Bortle 8.

PixInsight, Topaz Denoise AI.

cos300 at f/4.9 RGB only.

R = 12x1200s+6x60s+9x15s

G = 7x1200s+6x60s+9x15s

B = 9x1200s+6x60s+9x15s

total 9.33h

all processing in pixinsight 1.8

acquisition credit: John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Leonardo Orazi, Rob Pfile, Rick Stevenson and Jerry Yesavage.

processing credit: rob pfile

Rielaborazione Chiamata anche La Scopa di Strega è la parte occidentale della nebulosa Velo e catalogata come NGC 6960, caratterizzata dalla presenza della luminosissima stella 52 Cygni, sovrapposta in prospettiva ma estranea in realtà all'oggetto nebulare. Distante da noi circa 1470 anni luce , si estende per circa 35 anni luce , e’ composta da gas e polveri in espansione derivati dall’ esplosione di una supernova , stella collassata sulla sua stessa gravità con masse superiori a 9 volte quella del sole. Oggi notiamo i sempre piu' rarefatti filamenti nebulari fluttuare nel vuoto cosmico che ci regalano immagini stupefacenti per la loro particole bellezza

le riprese sono state effettuate dal Giardino di casa da Mogoro , Sardegna , Italia . La strumentazione utilizzata è la seguente :

SC Celestron C11 ridotto ad F2 a mezzo di hyperstar Starizona mod. V3 ( F560), cam Asi 2600 MC , filtro Optolong Lpro; guida Takahashi FS60 F255 , cam Asi 224 mc ; Montatura Equatoriale Eq6 R pro , gestione strumenti Asi Air Pro ...

Dati di Scatto : riprese del 02 e 03/07/2022 , 97 light x 180" , 29 Dark , 39 Flat naturali ( fatti al tramonto del 02/07/22 senza flat box )

Spero sia di Vostro Gradimento !!

Cieli Sereni

Newton 200x1000 sur HEQ5 pro Rowan.

Correcteur Bader MPCC MIII.

Optolong L-Extreme.

Canon 1000Dd.

132 x 3min - ISO 400.

Version HOO.

Ciel Bortle 8

ASI 294 MC PRO.

72 ED Skywatcher con reductor/aplanador 0.85.

Star Adventurer 2i.

Guiado Asi 120mm Mini.

Ganancia 123/ Offset 30 -10ºc

L-Extreme 27x300s

Bortle 8.

PixInsight.

Western Veil Nebula, also known as the Witch Broom Nebula is the remnant from a supernova and resides about 2100 light - years from Earth in constellation Cygnus

Instruments ou objectifs:TS-OPTICS 10 F/4 CARBON, Sky-Watcher Quattro 250mm f/4 Black diamond

Imageurs:ATIK 383L+

Montures:10 MICRON GM1000 HPS, AZ EQ6 GT AZ EQ6

Instruments de guidage:Kepler 60mm, TS-OPTICS 10 F/4 CARBON

Caméras de guidage:QHY5 Guidecam, ATIK 383L+

Réducteur/correcteur de focale:TS-Optics TS.Optics GPU

Logiciels:Photoshop CC 2017, Bisque Software TheSkyX Pro, MaxPilote, MaxIm DL Pro 5 MaxIm DL, PixInsight

Filtres:HA, Astronomik 2 HA, OIII

Accessoires:USB_Focus V3, Robofocus

Résolution: 3264x2439

Dates: 18 juin 2018

Images:

HA: 83x600" bin 1x1

OIII: 32x600" bin 1x1

Intégration: 19.2 Heures

Âge moyen de la Lune: 5.33 jours

Phase moyenne de la Lune: 28.82%

Astrometry.net job: 2162614

Centre AD: 311,423 degrés

Centre DEC: 30,713 degrés

Échelle des pixels: 1,111 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 88,646 degrés

Rayon du champ: 0,629 degrés

Lieux: Observatoire perso, LA BASTIDE, VAR, France

Data source: Own remote observatory

SW 200/800

Canon EOS 60D astrodon

1600iso

8 min / 1h12 total

Filtré O3 car lune

Optics: Quattro200P with coma corrector

Camera: ASI2600MC Pro

Mount: EQ6-R

Exposure: Light-120sec 30frames, Bias, Flat, Dark

Date: 2/8/2024, @Yamagata Japan

Something unexpected appeared around the lower left of the center. I wonder what this red arc-shaped object is.

NGC 6960 a.k.a. Western Veil Nebula a.k.a. The Witch's Broom

………………………………………

10,000 years ago, long before the first records in human history, a bright light appeared in the sky and lasted for weeks until it faded and disappeared. Now we know that the phenomenon was caused by the explosion of a supernova, a huge star, 20 times larger than the Sun. What is seen in the attached image is a part of the remnants of that star, remnants that created a cloud consisting mainly of hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue) and which expands with a speed of about 1 milion miles per hour.

This nebula is found in the constellation Cygnus, at a distance of about 2400 light-years from Earth, and is one of the best known summer targets for astrophotography enthusiasts, but due to the large number of stars in that area, it cannot be considered a easy target.

Besides Witch's Broom, other names under which this nebula is known are: Finger of God, Filamentary Nebula or Lacework Nebula.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: SW EQ6R

Telescope: SW Newtonian 150PDS

Camera: ASI 533MC Pro

Filter: Optolong Lextreme

Integration: 6h

88 light frames x 4 min + calibration frames

Stacking with DSS. Edit in Pixinsight si Lightroom.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard

Instrument ou objectif:Sky-Watcher Quattro 250mm f/4 Black diamond

Imageurs:SBIG STF8300M SBIG

Monture:AZ EQ6 GT AZ EQ6

Instrument de guidage:Kepler 60mm

Caméra de guidage:QHY5 Guidecam

Réducteur/correcteur de focale:TS-Optics TS.Optics GPU

Logiciels:Photoshop CC 2017, Bisque Software TheSkyX Pro, MaxPilote, MaxIm DL Pro 5 MaxIm DL, PixInsight

Filtres:Astrodon HA, OIII

Résolution: 3328x2514

Dates: 18 juin 2018

Images:

Astrodon HA: 17x600" -10C bin 1x1

OIII: 15x600" bin 1x1

Intégration: 5.3 Heures

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus, at about 2400 light years from us.

It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop,a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. In modern usage, the names Veil Nebula, Cirrus Nebula, and Filamentary Nebula generally refer to all the visible structure of the remnant, or even to the entire loop itself. The structure is so large that several NGC numbers were assigned to various arcs of the nebula. There are three main visual components: 1. The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", Lacework Nebula, "Filamentary Nebula"; 2. The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 (together with NGC 6992 also known as "Network Nebula"; 3. Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.

The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of the explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 36 times the area of the full Moon.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6 R pro

Lens: Rokinon 135mm F2

Camera: ASI 533MM Pro

Filters: Astrodon SHO

Total integration: 10h30 ( Ha 49 exposures x 5 min, Sii 30 x 5 min, Oiii 77 x 3 min )

Edit in Pixinsight.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard.

More pics on my --> FACEBOOK

/// Setup

- Camera: Moravian G2-8300

- Telescope: Omegon 126/880 f/7 Triplet Apo

- Corrector: TS 2.5" Fullframe Corrector

- Mount: Losmandy G11 on Pier

- Guiding Camera: Starlite Xpress Lodestar X2

- Guiding Scope: TS Photoline 80/500 f/6.25 Triplet Apo

/// Software

- Capturing Software: Sequence Generator Pro / PHD2

- Processing Software: DeepSkyStacker / PixInsight 1.8

/// Image Integration

- Date: 21.09.17

- 7x900" H-alpha / bin 1x1 / -20°C

(1h 45min)

TS Optics 72mm,

Canon 550Da

33x120 Secs, Darks, DeepSkyStacker, Gimp, Lightroom

Date: 2020-09-18

177x180s +DOF 250/1200 eos700D defiltrer total + filtre l-extreme guidage par chercheur et asi 120mini eq6r pro et asi air

Les Dentelles du Cygne.

Megrez 72 + Flatener III.

ASI1600MC et filtre L-Extreme.

58 poses de 180s. Traitement SIRIL et Photoshop.

This is our first light image using the new QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ, I want to thank QHYCCD for the honor to be testing this amazing new camera. The image was captured in RGB, Ha and OIII. (H-Alpha is mapped to Red channel @70% opacity, OIII is mapped to the blue channel @70% opacity and OIII is mapped to the green channel @50% opacity) The Optolong OIII filter produces halos on the bright stars in this image such as 52 Cygni which is a bit disappointing however I'll be using Chroma Narrowband Filters on this setup from the end of this month.

Pictured here to the left of the image covering an area over 3 x 2 degrees of sky of are the Eastern Veil Nebula NGC6992 to the Western Veil Nebula NGC6960 (Witch’s Broom) far right with “Pickering’s Triangle” in between at the top of the image as well as “The Funnel” just below and the many knot’s and strands visible here and within this beautiful Supernova remnant.

This new setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1.

Captured over 5 nights in July and August for a total acquisition time of 8.5 hours.

Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Dates of Capture July 30, August 6th, 8th, 11th and 13th 2020

HA 210 min 21 x 600 sec

OIII 140 min 14 x 600 sec

RGB 165 min 11 x 300 sec (per channel)

Narrowband Filters by Optolong

Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version

Camera Details and Specs www.qhyccd.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show...

Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit

Calibrated with dark, Bias and Flat Frames

Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5

Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix

Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)

EQ Mount: Paramount ME

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC

I took this over two nights as typically in the UK you are lucky to get more than a two hour window of opportunity. The conditions weren’t ideal on either night but I did manage to get some usable data, though some was discarded. As usual I remove the stars after the Initial levels adjustment before continuing to process the Oiii, Ha & luminance. I usually only use the Ha stars in my images but this time I decided to make a star only image of both the Oiii and the Ha and combined these to add back in at the end of the processing giving bi-colour stars.

Object Description:-

NGC 6960 (Western Veil), NGC 6979, NGC 6974 & Pickering’s Triangle are part of a larger structure and the remnants of a Supernova which is believed to have taken place between 3000 and 6000BC. It can be found in the constellation of Cygnus at a distance of approximately 1,470 ly with a visual mag of 7.0. The whole object (of which this is only part) covers an area equivalent to 6 times the Dia of the Full Moon. This is a cloud of heated ionized gas and dust, it’s also very rich in Oxygen (Oiii).

EQUIPMENT:-

Explore Scientific 102mm F7 APO Carbon

Explore Scientific 0.7 Focal Reducer

Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT

ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera

Orion Mini Auto Guide

Astronomik 6nm Ha Filter

Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter

Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC

IMAGING DETAILS:-

NGC 6960 Western Veil "Witch's Broom" Nebula (Cygnus)

NGC 6979, NGC 6974 & Pickering's Triangle

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

40 Ha subs@240sec (2h 40m)

30 Oiii subs@240sec (2h)

Total imaging Time 4.40h

Dithering

20 Darks

20 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

APT "Astro Photograph Tools"

StarNet++

DSS

PS CS2

I took 24 five minute images and stacked them. I used a QHY268C camera mounted on an Istar 140mm f/6.5 apochromatic refractor

The first image I have under taken in a few years, a massive thanks to Ian King of Ian King imaging.

Equipment:

Skywatcher Esprit 150 ED PRO Triplet.

PME mount.

QSI 6120 12MP CCD Camera.

Astrodon filters.

Lodestar X2 guider.

TSX, SGP, Phd II guiding.

A bi-colour two panel mosaic comprising of 2 x Ha and 2 x OIII panels.

Ha = 840 minutes.

OIII = 480 minutes.

Total of 1320 minutes or 22 hours

Processed with PixInsight.

A framing of the major areas of bright and dark nebulosity in Cygnus, showing pink emission nebulas contrasting with dark dusty regions in the Cygnus arm of the Milky Way. The main area of the bright Cygnus Starcloud is at upper right.

The bright blue star Deneb is above centre. Just below it and left of centre is the North America Nebula, NGC 7000, and its adjacent companion Pelican Nebula, IC 5070. The Gamma Cygni nebulosity complex, IC 1318, is right of centre. The Veil Nebula supernova remnant, NGC 6960 and 6992-5, is at lower right. The small Cocoon Nebula, IC 5146, is at lower left. The Tulip Nebula, Sh2-101, is at upper right.

Two obvious star clusters flank the scene: NGC 7209 in the lower left corner, and NGC 6940 in the lower right corner. The dark nebula Le Gentil 3, aka the Funnel Cloud Nebula, is at upper left. The dark Northern Coal Sack area is at centre. At top is the colourful "Patriotic Triple" stars of Omicron 1 and 2 Cygni.

This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute exposures with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 70mm and f/2.8, on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600. The lens was equipped with the 95mm URTH Night light pollution rejecton filter to help enhance the nebulosity. I shot this from home August 5, 2022 on a very fine dark transparent night with the field straight overhead. The camera was on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. I rejected about half the frames and used only the best 8 that had no trailing. That was enough to average out the satellites that appeared on some frames.

All stacking and processing done in Photoshop. Curves and color grading applied in part using luminosity masks generated with TK8 Actions and Lumenzia. A mild Orton glow effect added with Luminar AI.

"what can go wrong...."

much to my excitement, forecast was a couple of clear nights so i decided to work on my bucket list, the "west veil nebula" or "witch's broom" in the constellation of cygnus.

but disaster hit me hard... first night, after 1.5h, my computer deceided to restart while i just fell asleep. second night i forgot to insert the l-enhance dual narrowband filter, so i added much more RGB than intended. third night guiding was far from perfect. finally and at least, the fourth night was pretty awesome.

Canon 50D (modified)

Skywatcher HEQ5Pro

Skywatcher 200/1000

RGB 80x180sec @ISO1600

HA&OIII (L-Enhance) 90x180sec @ISO1600

total exposure 8h30min

fully calibrated

guiding with NINA and PHD

stacking in APP, editing in PS

shot under a bortle 5+ sky in four waning moon nights

First Light with my new Losmandy G11

This Supernova remnant is about 1500 Lightyears away.

-Setup:

Telescope: Omegon 126/880 Triplet

Mount: Losmandy G11

Camera: Canon EOS 6D Astrodon mod.

-Imaging Data:

17x240" ISO640

1.13h

The western Veil nebula, also known as NGC6960, is a part of a supernova remnant, in a distance of approx. 1470 light-years.

The left corners are dark, I think, that the mirrors of the newton are misaligned.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Der westliche Schleiernebel, auch bekannt unter der Bezeichnung NGC6960, ist ein Teil eines Supernova-Überrests in ca. 1470 Lichtjahren entfernung.

Die linken Ecken sind dunkel, ich denke es hat mit der Ausrichtung der Spiegel am Newton zu tun.

---------------------------------------

Date: 16.07.2016

---------------------------------------

Lights: 7 x 180 sec. ISO400 (CLS CCD clip flter)

Darks: -

Flats: -

Bias: -

---------------------------------------

Total exposure time:

Belichtungszeit ges:

21 min. (0.35h)

---------------------------------------

Equipment used / Ausrüstung:

Camera: Canon EOS 60Da

Telescope: TS ONTC 10" f4.7 Newton

Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6

Guiding: Finderscope,

Lacerta MGEN Autoguider

Veil Nebula in Narrowband

Also called the Witches broom.

20x300s Ha,O3

Skywatcher Esprit 100ed

Zwo Asi2600mm

Pixinsight & Lightroom

Ecco un dettaglio della Nebulosa Velo , conosciuta anche come “scopa di Strega “ le sue nebulosità contorte e trasparenti rendono questo soggetto bellissimo ( almeno dal mio punto di vista !) .. Visibile nella parte sud orientale della Costellazione del Cigno e distante dalla terra circa 1470 anni luce , fa parte dei brandelli rimasti dall’esplosione di una Supernova , generata dal collasso gravitazionale di una stella. …. Immagini riprese dal giardino di casa , Mògoro Sardegna Italia. del 25/26 ( 1 serata ) -10 C’ , gain 100/300 , 47 light x 300” - 11 dark - 10 dark Flat - 15 dark Eq6 R pro syscan sw newton 200/800 correttore di coma sw , filtro optolong elhenanche - zwo Asi 2600 mc , ASI Air Pro —— Pixinsignt ( calibrazione ed elaborazione immagine ) Lightroom (scritte e loghi). Cieli Sereni

***Reprocessed Data From 02/10/2022***

For comparison see original here:- flic.kr/p/2nQZxun

I’ve been trying out some of the new processing scripts in Siri, along with refining my workflow. Below are the scrips run from within Siri:-

GraXpert

RC-Astro Tools:-

BlurXTerminator

NoiseXTerminator

StarXTerminator

Object Description:-

NGC 6960 (Western Veil), NGC 6979, NGC 6974 & Pickering’s Triangle are part of a larger structure and the remnants of a Supernova which is believed to have taken place between 3000 and 6000BC. It can be found in the constellation of Cygnus at a distance of approximately 1,470 ly with a visual mag of 7.0. The whole object (of which this is only part) covers an area equivalent to 6 times the Dia of the Full Moon. This is a cloud of heated ionized gas and dust, it’s also very rich in Oxygen (Oiii).

EQUIPMENT:-

Explore Scientific 102mm F7 APO Carbon

Explore Scientific 0.7 Focal Reducer

Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT

ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera

Orion Mini Auto Guide

Astronomik 6nm Ha Filter

Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter

Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC

IMAGING DETAILS:-

NGC 6960 Western Veil "Witch's Broom" Nebula (Cygnus)

NGC 6979, NGC 6974 & Pickering's Triangle

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

40 Ha subs@240sec (2h 40m)

30 Oiii subs@240sec (2h)

Total imaging Time 4.40h

Dithering

20 Darks

20 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

N.I.N.A

PHD2

DSS

GraXpert AI

RC-Astro XTerminator tools

Siril

Affinity photo 2

45 total hours of integration time: 15 hours each Ha, Oiii, Sii. AT6RC at 1370mm with field flattener. Imaged with ASI1600MM-cool and Baader Ha and Optolong Oiii and Sii filters. Processed in Pixinsight.

I was not really happy with my previous processing attempt, so decided to try again from scratch...

I did some cosmetic correction in PI to remove (most) of the OIII-hotpixels. So I got a cleaner image. I did not made any major changes to prior version. Also there is no denoise in the synthetic luminance.

I noticed the small square-shaped stars, which is a sign for undersampling. I might consider to buy a new camera with higher resolution for that scope...any suggestions? :)

-- EQUIPMENT ---------------------------

Camera: SBIG STF-8300

Filterwheel: SBIG FW8 (8 x 36 mm)

Filters: Astronomik Ha, -OIII (6nm)

Telescope: APM 107/700 apochromatic refractor w. Riccardi Reducer 0.75x (525mm f/4.9)

Guiding: SBIG OAG with Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2

Software

Capturing: Sequence Generator Pro

Mount control: AP V2

Guiding: PHD2

Processing: Pixinsight

-- Details -----------------------------------

Date: 29th July 2020

Location: My backyard

Temp CCD: -10°C

Pixel size: 5.4 μm

Pixel scale: 2.1 Arcseconds per pixel

-- Exposures ------------------------------

Ha: 5 x 20 min

OIII: 4 x 20 min

Total integration time: 3 hours.

…99 20 second subs from the ZWO S50 Seestar smart telescope

Equipment

ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro

TeleVue NP101is

Losmandy G11

Capture

R: 7 x 480s

G: 8 x 480s

B: 4 x 480s

Total Integration: 2.6 hours

Processing

PixInsight

Photoshop

No noise reduction applied.

Compare to image taken 2020-08-18.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula

NGC6992, NGC6995 The Eastern Veil Nebula

NGC6960 The Western Veil Nebula

Ha 82 * 600s

Oiii 44 * 600s

Integration Time 21h

William Optics Z61

ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

iOptron CEM60

Antlia Ha, Oiii 3.5nm filters

Askar FMA180 Guiding Scope

ZWO ASI120M

ZWO EAF, EFW

Nina, PixInsight, Topaz DeNoise AI, Photoshop

1470 light-years away , The Western Veil Nebula (NGC6960) is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), a large but relatively faint supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded circa 3,000 BC to 6,000 BC, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times the area, of the full moon).

that's about 38 shots @1600 iso with a Canon 600D full spectrum and 80/480mm super-apo triplet reduced 0.8x, about 2hours total integration time, enought for the dark sky of Colle di Sampeyre, italian western Alps

wiki:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_Loop

it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulosa_Velo

A cosmic shockwave from a supernova explosion compresses and heats dust, oxygen and hydrogen making them glow or reflect glowing activity in red and blue.

This feature is fancifully called "The Witch's Broom"

32 x 10 minute exposures using T3 iTelescope remotely in New Mexico. Processed in PixInsight 1.8.

I used several passes of the Morphological Transform tool to shrink small stars in the background

Taken over multiple nights from Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Sequoia and Frazier Park. Asi1600MM Pro and the Explore Scientific ed102

This is a shockwave of hydrogen gas expelled in a supernova explosion several thousand years ago. There is probably a remnant stellar black hole or neutron star at the centre of the cloud.

Compression of the gas clouds by the blast wave causes the multiple layers seen. These then fluoresce as energy is pumped into them.

The cloud measures about 3 degrees across the night sky, 6x the diameter of the Moon but our eyes aren’t very sensitive to the deep red light emitted by excited hydrogen gas.

To the left in the image is a region known as the Western Veil, top centre is Pickering’s Triangle and to the mid right is the Eastern Veil or “Witches Broom”.

The dense knot towards bottom left is known as the “Southeastern knot”.

This is a robotic image taken at Grand Mesa Observatory system 1 scope, Colorado. It’s 21 x 10 minute exposures with a hydrogen alpha filter.

I’ve used the program Starnet++ to remove most of the background stars.

Canon EOS 600Dfs, Samyang 135 mm f/2, F/2.8, ISO-1600, 48x120s on Astrotrac, APP & Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

This latest capture from Grand Mesa Observatory’s system 4 (available on our subscriptions from October 1st) using a QHY367C full frame One Shot Color CMOS camera on a Takahashi E-180 F2.8 Astrograph with a William Optics STC Astro Duo-Narrowband Filter that we are testing for William Optics . This data really took me by surprise, I am very excited to see the level of detail and high transmission the STC provides in the H Alpha and OIII bandwidths especially for a project that was captured in just over 4 hours.

Total Acquisition Time 4.08 hours

Image capture details

By Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Dates: 2nd September 2019

Color 245 min, 49 x 300 sec

Camera: QHY367C

Offset 76, Gain 2850 Calibrated with flat, Dark & Bias

Optics: Takahashi E-180 F2.8 Astrograph

Filter: William Optics STC Astro Duo-Narrowband

Mount: Paramount GT1100S

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6.0

Pre Processed using Pixinsight

Post Processed using Photoshop CC

Some of my previous images of The Cygnus Loop

www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/20979326004/in/album-7...

About The Cygnus Loop

Containing many components such as The Eastern & Western Veil Nebulae NGC6960, NGC6992, NGC6995, IC1340, Pickerings Triangle, NGC6974 and NGC6979. Cygnus Loop is a supernova remnant, the expanding cloud of diverse elements created in the most powerful of explosions; a supernova.

As a Massive star nears the end of its life, it runs out of hydrogen fuel and begins fusing helium. After exhausting its supply of helium it begins to fuse heavier elements until finally, the star's core can no longer exert enough outward pressure and it collapses. A shock wave rebounds through the star so fierce that the star is shredded and leaves behind a small but extremely dense body; either a neutron star or a black hole.

The progenitor of this supernova remnant exploded more than 5,000 years ago and over the course of the past 5 millennia, the material has been racing away in all directions. The Cygnus loop now occupies a vast region of sky, equal to 36 full moons!

A Supernova seeds the interstellar medium with all types of heavy elements. In fact, every single atom of elements heavier than iron was created in this type of event, including many in your own body.

A two panel widefield Narrowband (HaOIII bi-color) Mosaic of a section of the Veil Nebula Complex (Supernova Remnant).

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), a large but relatively faint Supernova Remnant. The source Supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun, which exploded around 8,000 years ago. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 36 times the area of the full Moon). Data from FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explore) places the nebula at a distance of about 1,470 light-years away. This category of Deep-sky Object is also known as a Filamentary Nebula.

The Western Veil & Pickering's Triangle:

This image shows 2 of the regions in Veil Nebula Complex:

The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", "Finger of God", or "Filamentary Nebula") near the foreground star 52 Cygni;

Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.

Technical Info:

24 x 300 sec. 7nm Hydrogen-Alpha (Ha) per panel.

24 x 300 sec. 6.5nm Doubly Ionized Oxygen (OIII) per panel.

William Optics WO Star 71 Refractor Telescope.

Exposures at -20°C on my QHY163M Camera.

Integration time 8 hours total (4 hours per panel).

Calibration frames: Bias, Darks and Flats.

Image Acquisition:

Sequence Generator Pro with the "Mosaic and Framing Wizard".

Plate Solving:

Astrometry.net ANSVR Blind Solver via SGP.

Processing:

Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,

and finished in Photoshop.

Astrometry Info:

Center RA, Dec: 312.171, 30.742

Center RA, hms: 20h 48m 40.959s

Center Dec, dms: +30° 44' 30.452"

Size: 2.55 x 1.78 deg

Radius: 1.554 deg

Pixel scale: 5.74 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: Up is 124 degrees E of N

View an Annotated Sky Chart for this image.

View this image in the WorldWideTelescope.

Flickr Explore:

2018-10-15

Download mh_Astro_Tools Suite:

anti-matter-3d.com/tools

(or from GitHub)

GitHub Release Page

Also see:

Astro_Weather_Widget

Photo usage and Copyright:

Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.

Martin

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