NGC 6960 - Veil Nebula (Western Segment)

In the constellation Cygnus (The Swan) an unknown supergiant star exploded some 15,000 years ago and briefly appeared as a spectacular Type II supernova. The remnant of that ancient blast is now visible as a very large circle of nebulosity known as the Cygnus Loop. More popularly known as the Veil Nebula (aka Filamentary Nebula, Bridal Veil Nebula, or Network Nebula), this circle of star material spans some 3 degrees or six full-Moon-diameters of the night sky. The segment on the western side of the loop is cataloged as NGC 6960 or Caldwell 33 and is the subject of my recent image shown below:

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This portion of the Veil Nebula is also known as "The Witches Broom" and is dominated by the bright, magnitude 4.2 foreground star known as 52 Cygni. NGC 6960 runs in a roughly north-south line slightly east of 52 Cygni. A cropped, full resolution image of this western segment of the Veil is shown below:

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Note 1: East is toward top and North is toward right side for all images. Complete image details are available by clicking here.

Note 2: [Source: O'Meara, Stephen James. "The Caldwell Objects". Cambridge: University of Cambridge and Sky Publishing, 2002. Print.]