NGC 6960 (also known as Caldwell 34, "The Western Veil Nebula" and "The Witches Broom.")  is located in the constellation Cygnus.  It is the western part of a large but faint supernova remnant known as the Veil Nebula Complex. The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago leaving behind a heated and ionized cloud of gas and dust which the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times the area, of the full moon).

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula

 

ABOUT THE IMAGE

DATE/TIME:  The evening and early morning of July 24th and 25th, 2011.

CAMERA:  Canon XSI, 450D modified

TELESCOPE:  Orion 100ED @ F/7.65

MOUNT:  Celestron CG-5GT.

ISO SETTING:  800

EXPOSURES:  34

EXPOSURE LENGTH:  300sec.

TOTAL EXPOSURE LENGTH:  2hrs 50min.

SUBTRACTIONS: 10 dark frames and 10 bias frames.

CAPTURE: MaximDL

STACKING/PRE-PROCESSING: Deep Sky Stacker

PROCESSING: Photoshop CS3