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Western Veil Nebula, AstroDivers
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Western Veil Nebula, AstroDivers
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Description

In an epoch between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, in the maze of the Milky Way and the constellation Cygnus, about 2,400 light years away from the terrestrial observer, a gigantic supernova, equal to about 20 times our Sun, it exploded violently.
The Veil Nebula is what remains of this catastrophic event that furrowed a large part of our sky for a distance of 110 light years from side to side.
Wisps of colored smoke-like gas are all that is visible left of what was once the bright star. A moment before the explosion, a strong stellar wind blew into the cavity of the gas bubble creating these intertwined streams as a result of the shock wave resulting from the energy of the ancient explosion. This wave released material at millions of degrees and as it cooled in the cosmic vacuum, produced the brilliant colors that can be seen in the image today.
The consequence of this explosion is still present today, as the shock wave is propagating moving at about 2.3 million kilometers per hour, at this speed, to cover the Earth - Moon distance it would take 15 minutes. However, the nebula is so far away from us, that a very long time will have to pass before any gas can even approach the Earth.

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Western Veil Nebula, AstroDivers