The Eastern Veil Nebula

The Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC6992, NGC6995 and IC1340) is a part of the big supernova remnant which is called the Veil Nebula and is located in the constellation of Cygnus, around 1470 light-years away from us. It envolved due to a supernova explosion that happened about 8000 years ago. The whole cloud of ionized gas (mostly hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur) extends, as seen from Earth, over an area 6 times the diameter of the full moon. You will find an image of the whole complex a little further on this post. The Eastern Veil Nebula is just a smaller and one of the outer parts in this huge construct.

 
The Eastern Veil Nebula at a focal length of 420mm.
NGC6992.jpg
Click on the picture for a larger view ▲

The red parts in this image are showing the ionized hydrogen gas while the blue ones are showing the ionized oxygen. The green channel is made out of the blue channel, which should give a more natural look than just using two colors.


Because the Eastern Veil Nebula is also a located in the constellation Cygnus, which is crossed by the band of the Milky Way, the star density is very high in this region. Like on the North America Nebula, these stars are hiding a lot of details in the faint areas of the nebula and the background.

 
My attempt to reduce the stars so that the faint nebula can be better recognized.
NGC6992_no_stars.jpg
Click on the picture for a larger view ▲

 
For the star removal process, I tried Starnet++ this time, which is open-source software that uses a neural network to calculate out the stars. It's way more comfortable than my previous star removal workflow, but even with 11 hours of total exposure time, it produces some artifacts were the stars where before. Sadly, I also lost some details in the bright areas of the nebula itself.
Anyway, the faint nebulas and dust in the background can be seen much better without the stars.



The whole Veil Nebula complex. Image made by Mikael Svalgaard.
veil_fullres.jpg
Author: Mikael Svalgaard, http://www.leif.org/mikael

 

 
 

Position in the night sky

Like the North America Nebula, which I made a post about here and as mentioned before, the Eastern Veil Nebula belongs is also a part of the constellation Cygnus. It is located in between the stars Epsilon Cygni (Gienah in the image) and Zeta Cygni. You can also see the North America Nebula in the middle/upper left part near the star Deneb.

 
Position of the Eastern Veil Nebula in the night sky. Screenshot of SkySafari Plus app for iOS.
NGC6992_location.jpg
Click on the picture for a larger view ▲

 
 

What else is on the image

In the following picture, I have marked some more or less bright stars. As mentioned above, these are the three parts (NGC6992, NGC6995 and IC1430), which all 3 belongs to the Eastern Veil Nebula. I used the Aladin Sky Atlas suite to identify the stars in the image for the first time. It is a free sky atlas which contains quite good databases.

 
Image with names of some objects/stars. Created by hand in Photoshop.
NGC6992_annotaded.jpg
Click on the picture for a larger view ▲

 
 

Details of the image

The picture was taken in my Backyard with the following equipment and settings.

Camera QHYCCD247C
Telescope TSAPO65Q · 420mm · f6.5
Filter STC Duo-Narrowband Filter (48mm / 2")
Guide camera QHY5L-II
Guide scope TSL60D · 240mm · f4.0
Mount Skywatcher AZ EQ-6
Exposure time 132 x 300" = 660 minutes = 11 hours
ISO Unity Gain @ -20°C

Everything is controlled by my Astro-PC via remote desktop and wireless LAN.

Software: Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop CC


I posted a single shot from my first imaging session here if you want to see the difference between the final stacked image and a single exposure of 5 minutes.

 

The license of my pictures

All images, otherwise clearly indicated, in this post are my own work.
You can use it for free if you credit them to @astrophoto.kevin.

 
CC BY-SA 4.0 Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

 
 

References

https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinDesktop/
https://www.universeguide.com/star/v2142cygni
https://www.universeguide.com/star/hip103510
https://www.universeguide.com/star/hip103116
https://www.universeguide.com/star/hip103278
https://www.universeguide.com/star/hip103548
https://www.universeguide.com/star/hip103115
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula
https://www.constellation-guide.com/veil-nebula/

 
 

Thank you very much for visiting and reading!

If you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t be afraid to let me know of anything you thought about this post in the comments below!

Yours, @astrophoto.kevin

 
 

 
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this is so nice, I'm glad I found this blog on my TL, love it!

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Awesome photographs!
How much of this nebula is visible to the naked eye?

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Thank you very much @amberyooper
Unfortunately, only the brightest stars can be seen with the naked eye. And for those, you will need a very dark sky without light pollution. The nebula itself quite big, so magnification shouldn't be a problem, but it is too dim.
Maybe it is enough to take a look through a big binocular if you have a dark and clear sky.

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Wow!
Your post moved my brain.
I love the universe and what it gives to my eyes and my life.
I love this post, I don't know how long I've been in it. LOL
I went to your "NGC6992 - Veil Nebula"
Also visit "My new" Astro-PC "" Great job.
I joined your blog, a lot to explore.
Thanks for an excellent job.
Thanks Curie for an excellent selection.
Stay Great!

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Thank you very much for your kind words @mariita52 :-)
It's always nice to see people that are also "space-crazy" :-D
Yeah... Thanks to Curie and all the other curator for pushing that post so much :-)

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Ok I think I'm in love with this article! It is totally well explained, with some incredible super mega photos ♡ Did you know that I love space with all my soul? It's a platonic love haha

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Thank you very much @iamsaray :-)
I really appreciate that you like it. Nice to see that also other people love this great "unknown" which surrounds us, and gives us a home.

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The sky is so fascinating. I am no expert and I would say I'm not even a hobby observer of the night sky but I have noticed recently the difference in the sky between different places. I've been back home for a couple of weeks and as there are mainly small villages and mountains the stars are so bright. I don't remember seeing such bright stars anywhere else in the world. It's so beautiful.

I like both photos but I must say that I prefer the one with stars. It looks more real. The second one simply miss the stars (but this is probably just a personal preference :))

Thank you for sharing all the information. It's very interesting! Have a lovely day!

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(Edited)

Thank you very much for your kind words @delishtreats :-)
One of the benefits of living in a rural area instead of a city is the lower light pollution. The city lights can totally hide most of the stars, which is very sad. Before I moved to my location here, I lived in a small city (it was not such a city as everyone thinks when one hears the word city. Maybe 10k people lived there) and was never able to see the Milky Way.

Thank you for your opinion. I also like the one with the stars most. As you say, it is more natural. The one without the stars is to show whats in the background of the stars.

Thank you very much! I'm wishing you also a lovely day :-)

Btw. Just took a look at your post. Awesome shots! I'm really curious about your next one :-)

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Thank you! I've been inactive for a while as I was sick and now I'm on vacation back home. I will be back in Switzerland in a week and will start posting again :)

It's interesting that you were not able to see the Milky Way in a small city. It's a common thing here :) So now I feel blessed :)

I wish you a lovely Sunday!

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In the meantime, I'm able to see it. :-)
But even here the conditions become worse every year.
More and more LED street lights and LED lights in generall that are much brighter and need so few energy that they can be turned on the whole night.

Oh, sickness is something, nobody needs to have. Hope you had a nice vacation :-)
Thank you, wishing you a lovely Sunday evening and a healthy start in the next week.

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Hello there @astrophoto.kevin :)

I'd heard through the grapevine that your latest post was mind blowing! Only now did I have time to come and see for myself. Of course I knew it was going to be wonderful, but ... my goodness... I am lost for words! Thank you for transporting us to the Eastern Veil Nebula :D with and without stars! It's hard to decide which image I like the most.

Stunning work Kevin.
Congratulations!

All the best to you :)

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Thank you so much for your warm words, Abigail :-)
I really appreciate that you like the images :-)
I must say that I'm really speechless about the response that I get about this post, I would never have expected this.
My personal opinion is always with stars. The images are looking much more natural even if the stars are hiding some details. But in the end, it's a matter of personal favor just like the colors.

Thank you!
I'm wishing you also all the best and a very nice day :-)

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There is no place else on this platform where so much quality, extraordinary material can be found. SteemSTEM...that's the top.
I get so busy, I almost missed this outside of the voting window (I don't do auto voting). I'm going to make a list of my favorite bloggers. It won't be that long, but you're on it.
The most stunning images-- and you give us maps!. I'm a fan of terrestrial maps--now I have maps of the skies.
Thank you for a beautiful experience.

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Thank you very much for your kind words @agmoore2 :-)
Thank you also for adding me to your fav's, I really appreciate that :-)
Making a list of favorite bloggers sounds like a good idea, as my feed here is getting more and more unmanageable with each follow.
I do autovotes but I think I have to clean some things there. A small bot that reminds me on each post of the fav-listed user would be nice.
Greetings :-)

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I'm almost embarrassed to admit how unsophisticated I am on this platform. No bots. No auto anything. I stumbled on to Steem and am afraid I am quite the dinosaur. For me, this is a daily banquet, and SteemSTEM.io makes it easy to find quality content. But there are so many other corners of the Steem universe that delight me (@shaka and his letsmakeacollage contest is one example). My list will actually be on a piece of paper that I tuck in my desk drawer and refer to so I don't lose track of great bloggers. I think today I will start, alphabetically...your name and @abigail-dantes should be near the top, with that system :)) Thanks again, for your very courteous response.

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I love, love, love lists!!
Started mine already :D

My Desk.jpg

:*
Kisses for you two!!

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(Edited)

😊 😇🌹🌹



Oh my heavens! I just upvoted my own comment 😗

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Nothing to thank for @agmoore2 :-)
Those autovotes really helps do not miss a post of favorite authors. Especially if the feed is getting chaotic over time. You have no need to be afraid of to be called a dinosaur for the way you are using it. Everyone has its own, and the one that is most comfortable to you will be the right :-)
That's true, there are many bright and sunny corners around there. But unfortunately, there are also the dark ones. Anyway, we should enjoy the bright and sunny ones :-)
This with the sheet of paper is a good idea. It could also be used as a backup for the keys that we need here.
Many thanks for the flattering words :-)

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