The Witch's Broom NGC 6960

Witch's broom nebula — The Witch’s Broom along with part of Pickering’s Triangle at bottom.

This supernova remnant is located approximately 1400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. Cataloged as NGC 6960 and also known as the Witch’s Broom or Western Veil Nebula.

The Witch’s Broom is an ionised cloud of heated gas and dust. Beautiful layers of filaments of hot glowing hydrogen (red) and doubly ionised oxygen (blue/green) gas can be seen almost edge-on in this object. The nebula extends for about 35 light years from one end to the other.

This supernova remnant formed when a massive star exploded approximately 9,000 years ago.

A supernova remnant is the remains of a star that died in a supernova explosion. The star in question in the Veil Nebula complex was 20 times the mass of the Sun.

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Image technical:

Starfield Optics 8″ Astrograph (native F4) https://bit.ly/3cvNGXh
Starizona NEXUS .75 reducer/coma corrector for F3 https://bit.ly/3MCijaB
QHY268M CMOS Camera (https://bit.ly/3Aj23FE), 26mp, 3.76um @ -10C
QHY CFW3-L 7 position https://bit.ly/3jAp9Sb
Optolong filters https://bit.ly/3dvhqBa
Skywatcher EQ6 mount / Skyshed Pier (Skyshedpod.com)
Pegasus Astro Focus Cube (EAF) https://bit.ly/3dzagfr
NINA 2.0 for acquisition
Processed in PixInsight
Seeing and transparency: average to good
Total integration time: 19 hours 30min (1min subs at high gain)
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

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