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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
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#97449
by
[z]Barbara Harris
@
02.01.2007 00:00
- nach oben -
NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
Explanation: Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of
recorded human history
, a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was an
exploding star
and record the colorful expanding cloud as the
Veil Nebula
.
Pictured above
is the west end of the
Veil Nebula
known technically as
NGC
6960 but less formally as the
Witch
's
Broom
Nebula. The rampaging gas gains its colors by impacting and
exciting existing
nearby gas. The
supernova remnant
lies about 1400
light-years
away towards the constellation of
Cygnus
. This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the
angular size
of the full
Moon
. The bright star 52
Cygnus
is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient
supernova
.
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