Explore the mesmerising Veil Nebula in this new Hubble image shared by NASA

Keeping the Nebula November on a roll, NASA shared an electrifying image of the Veil Nebula captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Located 2,100 light-years from Earth, the nebula is a supernova remnant and resides in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan), making it a relatively close neighbor in astronomical terms. "This supernova remnant, called the Veil Nebula, is the result of an explosion of a star 20 times more massive than our Sun (sic)", said a tweet shared by NASA Hubble. 

According to NASA's statement, this image was processed using new techniques that helped in bringing out finer details of the nebula’s delicate threads and filaments of ionized gas. "To create this colorful image, observations were taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 instrument using five different filters. The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionized oxygen (seen here in blues), ionized hydrogen, and ionized nitrogen (seen here in reds)", the statement added.

As per the explanation by the administration, this Nebula is the visible portion of Cygnus Loop, the remnant of a supernova that formed roughly 10,000 years ago after the death of a star 20 times the mass of the Sun. "That star – which was 20 times the mass of the Sun – lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionized gas – creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty," NASA stated.

The Veil Nebula spans to a mind-boggling distance and Hubble has only captured a small portion of it in this image. Interestingly, it features in the Hubble Caldwell Catalog, which is a collection of astronomical objects snapped by the telescope and those which are visible to astronomers in the sky. This comes after Hubble shared the image of a "cosmic ribbon" which resulted from another supernova explosion. 

"Cosmic ribbon" DEM L249 that resulted from a supernova explosion

This stunning image features the remains of an explosion that resulted from the death of a white dwarf star. Hubble captured this image while searching for surviving companions of white dwarf stars that went supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Below is the image for you to marvel over this entity out there in our universe. 

Image: Twitter/@NASAHubble