       APOD: 2017 September 19 - Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Exploded Star

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                              2017 September 19
                                      [2]
                    Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Exploded Star
  Image Credit: NASA [3] , ESA [4] , and the Hubble Heritage [5]  Team (STScI
                               [6] / AURA [7] )

Explanation: Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star.
About 7,000 years ago that star exploded in a supernova [8]  leaving the Veil
Nebula [9] . At the time, the expanding cloud [10] was likely as bright as a
crescent Moon [11] , remaining visible for weeks to people living at the dawn
of recorded history [12] . Today, the resulting supernova remnant [13] , also
known as the Cygnus Loop [14] , has faded and is now visible [15]  only
through a small telescope directed [16] toward the constellation [17]  of the
Swan (Cygnus [18] ). The remaining Veil [19] Nebula [20] is physically huge,
however, and even though it lies about 1,400 light-years [21]  distant, it
covers over five times the size of the full Moon [22] . The featured picture
[23]  is a Hubble Space Telescope [24]  mosaic of six images together covering
a span of only about two light years, a small part of the expansive supernova
[25]  remnant. In images of the complete Veil Nebula [26] , even studious
readers [27]  might not be able to identify the featured filaments [28] .

                    Tomorrow's picture: the big corona [29]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [41] (MTU [42] ) & Jerry Bonnell [43]
                                  (UMCP [44] )
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1709/Veil_Hubble_6000.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] http://www.spacetelescope.org/
  [5] http://heritage.stsci.edu/
  [6] http://www.stsci.edu/portal/
  [7] http://www.aura-astronomy.org/
  [8] http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html
  [9] http://www.skyhound.com/sh/archive/aug1/NGC_6960.html
  [10] ap010928.html
  [11] ap120205.html
  [12] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/334517.stm
  [13] supernova_remnants.html
  [14] ap030118.html
  [15] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O7l9m2pFXM
  [16] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qOmu-5Uanc
  [17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation
  [18] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(constellation)
  [19] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil
  [20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula
  [21] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
  [22] ap020316.html
  [23] http://hubblesite.org/image/3620/gallery
  [24] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html
  [25]
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/
what-is-a-supernova.html
  [26] ap051206.html
  [27]
http://www.magic4walls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/
dog-reading-book-with-glasses.jpg
  [28] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=170919
  [29] ap170920.html
  [30] ap170918.html
  [31] archivepix.html
  [32] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [33] lib/aptree.html
  [34] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [35] calendar/allyears.html
  [36] /apod.rss
  [37] lib/edlinks.html
  [38] lib/about_apod.html
  [39] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=170919
  [40] ap170920.html
  [41] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [42] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [43] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [44] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [45] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [46] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [47] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [48] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [49] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [50] http://www.mtu.edu/
