Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Exploded Star

Explanation: Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. About 7,000 years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula . At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon , remaining visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history . Today, the resulting supernova remnant , also known as the Cygnus Loop , has faded and is now visible only through a small telescope directed toward the constellation of the Swan ( Cygnus ). The remaining Veil Nebula is physically huge, however, and even though it lies about 1,400 light-years distant, it covers over five times the size of the full Moon . The featured picture is a Hubble Space Telescope mosaic of six images together covering a span of only about two light years, a small part of the expansive supernova remnant. In images of the complete Veil Nebula , even studious readers might not be able to identify the featured filaments .