Nebulas are some of the most spactacular formations to view in the universe.  And now astronomers have viewed the veil nebula with more clarity and detail than ever:

About 8,000 years ago, Neolithic humans would have witnessed what appeared to be a bright new star blazing in the northern sky. In fact, it was the violent explosion of a star 20 times the mass of our Sun. Now, the expanding remnant of that blast can be seen as the Cygnus Loop, a donut-shaped nebula that is approximately 6 times the apparent diameter of the full Moon. In 1997, Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) photographed a small portion of that remnant, called the Veil Nebula, providing detailed views of its structure. Now, overlaying WFPC2 images with new Wide Field Camera 3 data provides even greater detail and allows astronomers to study how far the nebula has expanded since it was photographed almost two decades ago.

Let’s check out aa Hubble video about the Veil Nebula on page 2

Next Page »