Hubble lifts a corner of the veil

This veil is the edge of a supernova explosion that occurred about ten thousand years ago.

The space photo of the week is a beautiful image of part of a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. This is the Veil Nebula. This remnant is more than 2,000 light-years from Earth, but more than 100 light-years in diameter. Viewed from Earth’s surface, the Veil Nebula (or Cirrus Nebula) is about as wide as six full moons side by side. The Hubble telescope zooms too far and is therefore unable to capture the entire nebula in a single image. That is why we see here a small detail of this beautiful object.

Once upon a time, the site of the supernova remnant was home to a gigantic star. This giant was twenty times more massive than our sun. Before this star exploded, the star produced a powerful solar wind. Astronomers believe that the electrically charged particles blew a large hole in the surrounding interstellar gas. After the supernova explosion, the shock wave from this explosion reached the resulting edge of interstellar gas. The interaction between the shock wave and the rim led to the creation of the colorful Veil Nebula.

Did you know that the Veil Nebula is still growing? The material in the outer edge of the supernova remnant is moving at a speed of 350 kilometers per second.

Don’t have enough? In 2015, Hubble also took a nice picture of the Veil Nebula.