            APOD: 2018 April 8 - NGC 6960: The Witchs Broom Nebula

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
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                                 2018 April 8
                                      [2]
                      NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh [3] ( Heaven's Mirror Observatory [4] )

Explanation: Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human
history, a new light would have suddenly have appeared in the night sky and
faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was from a supernova, or
exploding star [5] , and record the expanding debris cloud as the Veil Nebula
[6] , a supernova remnant [7] . This sharp telescopic view is centered on a
western segment [8]  of the Veil Nebula cataloged as NGC [9]  6960 but less
formally known as the Witch's Broom Nebula. Blasted out in the cataclysmic
explosion, the interstellar shock wave plows through space sweeping up and
exciting interstellar material. Imaged with narrow band filters, the glowing
filaments [10]  are like long ripples in a sheet seen almost edge on,
remarkably well separated into atomic hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue-green)
gas. The complete supernova remnant lies about 1400 light-years [11]  away
towards the constellation Cygnus [12] . This Witch's Broom [13]  actually
spans about 35 light-years. The bright star in the frame is 52 Cygni [14] ,
visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient
supernova remnant.

                      Tomorrow's picture: sun burst [15]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1804/ngc6960_Pugh_2000.jpg
  [3] http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au/
  [4] http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au/ Heavens_Mirror.htm
  [5] http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/supernovas.html
  [6] ap121126.html
  [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supernova_remnants
  [8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cygnus_Loop_Labeled.png
  [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_General_Catalog
  [10] ap170919.html
  [11] http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/ question19.html
  [12] ap101119.html
  [13]
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/
Houki-constructionworker-japan-2012.ogv/
Houki-constructionworker-japan-2012.ogv.480p.webm
  [14] http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/52cyg.html
  [15] ap180409.html
  [16] ap180407.html
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  [27] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [28] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
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