VEIL NEBULA

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 supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalog identifiers. 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 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon).

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:

• The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the “Witch’s Broom”, “Lacework Nebula”, “Filamentary Nebula”) near the foreground star 52 Cygni;

• 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”) and IC 1340;

• Pickering’s Triangle (or Pickering’s Triangular Wisp) is brightest at the north central edge of the loop but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop. Pickering’s Triangle is much fainter and has no NGC number (though 6979 occasionally refers to it).

NGC 6974 and NGC 6979 are luminous knots in a fainter patch of nebulosity on the northern rim between NGC 6992 and Pickering’s Triangle.

JULY 30, 2022

The last time I captured a DSO was at the end of May. Two months felt like a long time not to use my telescope as I enjoy getting out to shoot as often as possible, whether it is landscape, seascape, flowers, nightscape, or DSO. We would head to Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark again for the dark Bortle 2 skies.

As we made our way on National Trails Highway (Route 66) to Amboy Crater, we were stopped by a roadblock due to road closures from the recent heavy rains in the area. We returned to I-40 E and headed further east to Kelbaker Rd on the other side of Route 66. Before reaching Amboy Crater, we stopped by the famous Roy’s Motel & Café for some sunset and blue hour photos while the neon lights were on.