The Eastern Veil in Hydrogen Alpha (NGC 6992)
Characteristics:
Magnitude: Roughly magnitude 5.0
Size: about 80'
Distance: 2600 light years
RA: 20h 56m 34s
Dec: 31 degrees 43' 54"
Description:
The Eastern Veil (NGC 6992) is a supernova remnant that is part of a
larger
complex that includes the Western Veil (NGC 6960). It is
estimated that the supernova explosion occured
about 10,000 years ago, before the age
of recorded history. The star that gave rise to this supernova
remnant
is no longer visible, but it must have been massive.
During a star's life, nuclear
fusion
produces elements such as oxygen, silicon, carbon, and iron.
These
elements are expelled into space during supernova explosions, later to
become
part of other stars, planets, and lifeforms like ourselves. The
Eastern Veil is the brightest component of the Veil Complex and
contains several subdivisions.
Although relatively faint, the Veil Complex is a stunning view at dark
sites using large aperture scopes, especially
with
the use of an OIII filter.
Photographic Details:
Date: June 11, 2004
Scope: Takahashi
Sky 90 at f4.5 with field flattener/focal reducer, on the G11 Losmandy
Mount.
Autoguider: SBIG STV with
e-finder.
Camera: SXV-H9
Filter: Astronomik
Ha filter (13 nm bandpass).
Exposures: 14 x 5' each, 70
minutes total.
Conditions: Temperature 50 degrees F; average
transparency; average seeing; calm.
Post-processing: No dark, bias, or flat frames used. Auto-aligned in
MaximDL; Sigma combined using RC Sigma Reject MaximDL, followed by DDP
in ImagesPlus (IP). Subsequent
levels and curves adjustments in Photoshop CS (16 bit format).
This was fun to process- lots of faint signal as well as interesting
nebula structures to work with.
Please
note: Graphics on this website
may not be reproduced without author permission.
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