science & techESA/Hubblec. 8000 BC · Constellation Cygnus
The Veil Nebula is the 10,000-year-old wreckage of a star 20 times the Sun's mass
The Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant, the expanding debris of a star roughly 20 times as massive as the Sun that exploded about 10,000 years ago. It lies around 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The glowing colours come from hydrogen, sulphur and oxygen atoms heated by the blast wave, each emitting light at its own wavelengths. Seen whole without a telescope, it would span about six full Moons side by side. Comparing Hubble images decades apart reveals individual gas filaments moving outward.
When a massive star collapses and explodes, its outer layers are flung outward at high speed. That blast slams into the surrounding gas and heats it, so the gas glows as atoms lose and regain electrons. Different elements emit different colours, so the filaments reveal their chemistry.
Supernova remnants spread the heavy elements made in massive stars into space, and that material later becomes part of new stars and planets. Watching the nebula change over time lets astronomers measure how the blast travels through its surroundings.
