Working with the Hubble telescope astronomers have published a new image. It shows a part of the famous Veil Nebula.
The Veil Nebula is located 2,400 light-years away from Earth toward the constellation Cygnus. It was formed about 10,000 years ago as a result of the collapse of a giant star whose mass exceeded the mass of the Sun by 20 times. This event resulted in the release of a huge amount of energy known as a supernova outbreak.
Due to its relative proximity, youth, and large size, the Veil Nebula is a very popular object to study. It has been photographed many times in the past by various telescopes — including Hubble. The new image of the nebula was obtained by combining images taken with three different filters. Thus, astronomers were able to isolate the radiation of hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen atoms.
The new Hubble image shows only a small portion of the nebula. Its diameter is about 130 light years. If we could see the nebula with the naked eye, its width in the earth’s sky would be equal to the width of six full moons arranged in a row!
Although the Veil Nebula looks static in the image, it is actually still expanding at over 220 km/s. By comparing images taken in different years, scientists can detect the movement of individual knots and filaments of gas and better understand the changes supernova remnants undergo over time.
We previously reported on how the Hubble and Chandra telescopes put together a stellar Valentine’s Day bouquet.
According to Esahubble
