At this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, the Cygnus constellation, with its recognizable Northern Cross, is visible in the night sky. What’s less visible is the Veil Nebula, a cloud of hot dust and ionized gas that’s part of a large supernova remnant. The nebula formed about 10 000–20 000 years ago from the explosion of a massive star. Despite being roughly 2400 light-years away, the Veil has an angular size in the sky that’s several times larger than the Moon. But even in ideal conditions, stargazers need a telescope to see it. And with increasing light pollution, astrophotographers are having a more difficult time capturing images of it.
This picture shows the western part of the Veil Nebula. Imran Sultan—a physics graduate student at Northwestern University—made the image, which was the 2023 astronomy winner of the Royal Society’s annual photography competition. To construct the image, Sultan observed...
