22
Aug
2017
A small part of the East Veil nebula
This picture only shows a small part of the huge veil nebula (which is in total 36 times bigger than the full moon in the night sky). It is the blast wave of a supernova that is estimated to have exploded between 6000BC and 3000BC. Located around 1470 light years away from earth, this nebula is stil expanding and when it will meet other interstellar gas on its way, a new star might form. In those 5000-8000 years the nebula already expended to a diameter of around 100 light years! That nebula is expending incredibly fast!