The Veil Nebula, also the Loop Nebula, or the Fishnet Nebula, is a diffuse nebula in the constellation
The object was featured in a previous issuephotos of the Hubble telescope. Now the image has been additionally processed. New methods have revealed the smallest details of fine filaments of nebula and filaments of ionized gas.
To create this colorful image,used observations made by the Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 through 5 different filters. New post-processing techniques have further improved the detail of emissions of double ionized oxygen (shown in blue in the image), ionized hydrogen and ionized nitrogen (shown in red).
ESA/Hubble & NASA, Z. Levay
The Veil Nebula is located at approximately 2400light years from Earth, making it a relatively close neighbor from an astronomical point of view. This image captured only a small part of it. The nebula was discovered on September 5, 1784 by William Herschel. It is so large that its parts are considered separate nebulae and have their own names:
- NGC 6960 - western arc including the star 52 Cyg - the Witch's Broom Nebula;
- NGC 6979, a triangular nebula in the northwest of the loop - Pickering's Triangle;
- NGC 6992 - Northern Part of the Eastern Arc - Pike;
- NGC 6995 - southern part of the eastern arc (together with NGC 6992 forms the Network Nebula);
- NGC 6974 and NGC 6979 are a pair of nebula fragments in the northern part of the Loop (between the triangle and the eastern arc).
Read more
The most stormy place on Earth: why Drake Passage is the most dangerous route to Antarctica
Astrophysicists have modeled the first trillionth of a second of the Big Bang
Mars Express helped find out where and how the water disappeared from the Red Planet