#Astronomy #[Pickering's Triangle in the Veil Nebula] These chaotic-looking filamentous hot gases are part of the Veil Nebula, located in the constellation Cygnus in Earth's sky.

#Astronomy #[Pickering's Triangle in the Veil Nebula] These chaotic-looking filamentous hot gases are part of the Veil Nebula, located in the constellation Cygnus in Earth's sky. The Veil Nebula itself is a giant supernova remnant, a diffuse cloud of gas generated after the death explosion of a massive star. The light generated by the initial supernova explosion may have reached Earth more than five thousand years ago. That cataclysmic event triggered interstellar shock waves to travel through space, sweep through, and excite interstellar matter. Viewed from the side edges, these filamentous luminous clouds are actually more like large, long ripples that can very clearly distinguish the colors emitted by the ionized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms, red, green, and blue, respectively. The Veil Nebula, also known as the Swan Circle, currently spans about 3 degrees or 6 full moons. Estimated from its distance of about 1,500 light-years, it spans an area of about 70 light-years, and the field of view of this image spans less than one-third of its overall size. This complex filamentous cloud was cataloged as NGC 6979, and Pickering's triangle, named after the director of the Harvard Observatory, may be more appropriately called Wilhelmina Fleming's triangular cloud filament.