I learned that these filaments of visible shocked, glowing gas, make up what is known as the Veil Nebula. It is seen in the Earth's sky toward the constellation of Cygnus. This nebula is a "large supernova remnant", which means it is an expanding cloud that was created through the death of explosion of a massive star. This explosion of a massive star in our galaxy occurs about every 50 years. What I was shocked to learn was that the light from the original supernova explosion likely reached Earth over 5,000 years ago. The Veil Nebula is also known as the Cygnus Loop and it spans about 3 degrees. This means it is about 6 times the diameter of the Full Moon which fascinates me. The Veil is so large that its brighter parts are recognized as separate nebulae. These include The Witch's Broom, located at the bottom of this photo, and Pickering's Triangle, located towards the bottom of this photo to the right.
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