Ngc 6960, The Witch's Broom Nebula. Postcard

Stunning detail of a small section of the Veil Nebula. This section of the outer shell of the famous supernova remnant is in a region known as NGC 6960, the Witch's Broom Nebula. The debris is one of the best-known supernova remnants, deriving its name from its delicate, draped filamentary structures. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth, and resides about 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. This view is a mosaic of six Hubble pictures of a small area roughly two light-years across, covering only a tiny fraction of the nebula's vast structure. This close-up look unveils wisps of gas, which are all that remain of what was once a star 20 times more massive than our sun. The fast-moving blast wave from the ancient explosion is ploughing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas, emitting light.