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Featured Deep Sky Objects
Veil Nebula

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The Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 & NGC 6992) is not the brightest object in Cygnus, but it is the largest - at over 2.6 degrees in diameter, this series of arcs of gas trace out the edges of a vast sphere of material blown out by a supernova perhaps 250,000 years ago.

This ghostly wreath of gas is a star's tombstone - we've found no trace of the old star itself. The Veil is too large to be seen all at once in a telescope, but the brightest portions of the bubble (NGC 6992) are seen a bit south of Cygnus wing star epsilon (see chart). Another naked eye foreground star, 52 Cygni, actually lies in front of the nebula. Under dark skies, moderate telescopes reveal a spectral glow, like a waterfall, arcing across the view. Photographs can capture wonderful intricate detail in the Veil. Amusingly, the Veil was the destination for a rather silly 1972 sci-fi movie, Dark Star; their movie quest was for an unstable planet to blow up, but as you can see they are rather late. The explosion is long over, and when we are looking at the slowly expanding gas cloud, we are seeing the aftermath of colossal destruction.

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This ghostly wreath of gas is a star's tombstone - we've found no trace of the old star itself. The Veil is too large to be seen all at once in a telescope, but the brightest portions of the bubble (NGC 6992) are seen a bit south of Cygnus wing star epsilon (see chart). Another naked eye foreground star, 52 Cygni, actually lies in front of the nebula. Under dark skies, moderate telescopes reveal a spectral glow, like a waterfall, arcing across the view. Photographs can capture wonderful intricate detail in the Veil. Amusingly, the Veil was the destination for a rather silly 1972 sci-fi movie, Dark Star; their movie quest was for an unstable planet to blow up, but as you can see they are rather late. The explosion is long over, and when we are looking at the slowly expanding gas cloud, we are seeing the aftermath of colossal destruction.

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