The western and eastern veil nebulae constitute the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, an expanding supernova remnant. The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in daytime. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). Its distance from us is approximately 2400 ly.
Information at Wikipedia
Date retrieved: 15 September 2025 15:21 UTC
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Veil_Nebula&oldid=1301731786
