Emission Nebulae: Interstellar Shockwave

Between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago star in our sky in the constellation of Cygnus suddenly burned so bright it outshone everything except our own Sun and would’ve been easily visible during the daytime. A supernova the most destructive and creative force in the universe was happening in our galactic backyard. Supernovae are incredibly powerful generating forces so magnificent they’re one of the only events that creates many of the heavy elements needed for life to exist.

The Eastern Veil Nebula or NGC 6992 is a bright section of the Veil Nebula the smoking remnant of that supernova that happened thousands of years ago. The shockwave continues to expand at 1.5 million km/h. The Hubble Space Telescope has directly observed the expansion by photographing the wavefront in 1997 and 2015 clearly showing the expanding nebula.

This image was shot using narrowband filters and a monochrome camera. These filters isolate the emission lines of light associated with Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulphur allowing for more detailed information to be gathered.

A physical fine art print will be made for the first collector should they wish it, and the holder will be able to order a print at cost price for subsequent iterations as they are released.

Photographer: Ronan Hunt Full Resolution: 3448x5172 pix, 1/1 Edition Jpeg Image Credit: Ronan Hunt