Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
Explanation:
Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history [ http://news.bbc.co.…], a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was an exploding star [ http://imagine.gsfc…] and record the colorful expanding cloud as the Veil Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Pictured above [ http://www.noao.edu…] is the west end of the Veil Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] known technically as NGC [ http://en.wikipedia…] 6960 but less formally as the Witch [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]'s Broom [ http://www.broomsho…] Nebula. The rampaging gas gains its colors by impacting and exciting existing [ http://www.seds.org…] nearby gas. The supernova remnant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] lies about 1400 light-years [ http://starchild.gs…] away towards the constellation of Cygnus [ http://www.multiman…]. This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the angular size [ http://imagine.gsfc…] of the full Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The bright star 52 Cygnus [ http://www.seds.org…] is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient supernova [ http://en.wikipedia…].
Credit and Copyright:
//www.noao.edu/image _gallery/copyright.h tml" >Copyright: T. A. Rector [ mailto: rector at uaa.alaska.edu ] (U. Alaska [ http://salt.uaa.ala…http://hosting.uaa.…]), WIYN [ http://www.noao.edu…], NOAO [ http://www.noao.edu/], AURA [ http://www.aura-ast…], NSF [ http://www.nsf.gov/]
facet_where:
Alaska
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_what:
Moon
facet_what:
Aura
facet_what:
Dawn
facet_what:
Cygnus
facet_what:
nebula
facet_what:
New General Catalogue (NGC)
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap070101

NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
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