These ghostly filaments of interstellar gas are just a smallpart of th expansiveVeil Nebula, seen against a rich fieldof background stars in th long-neckedconstellatio Cygnus.Also known as th Cygnus Loop, the Veil Nebula is supernova remnant,the expanding debris cloud created by a stellarexplosion whose light first reached planet Earthfrom 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.About 1,400 light-years away,the entire nebula now appearsto span over 3 degrees onthe sky, nearly 6 times the apparent size of the full moon,but is faint and can be difficult to see in small telescopes.The region captured i thisbeautiful, deep, color imageis located at the southern tip of the Veil' easterncrescent.It covers about 10 light-years at the distance ofthe Veil and is cataloged as IC1340.
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