The ragged remains of a 7000 year old supernova explosion make up the Veil nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. A 72 minute exposure (144 x 30 seconds) over two nights was enough to pick up some of the intricate details of this huge and complex structure. The Western Veil or Witch’s Broom nebula sits to the right of the shot, with the Eastern Veil to the left. The faint triangular patch just visible in the middle is known as Pickering’s Triangle.

A close up of the brightest parts of the structure, the Eastern Veil and Western Veil, show the folds of pink and blue – almost like it should be viewed wearing 3D galsses!

Image details: Nikon D7000, Nikkor 180mm f2.8 at f2.8. 72 minutes (140 x 30 seconds) at iso 800 using didymium filter, plus 2 minutes (4 x 30 seconds) at iso 800 using . Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker and tracked with home made barn door tracker.

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