The Witch's Broom Nebula (APOD 19 Aug 2008)

[Forelan]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080819.html

Absolutely beautiful.

[orin stepanek]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080819.html

Quote: The expanding debris cloud gains it's colors by sweeping up and exciting existing and nearby gas.

The wispy cloud is very intricate and colorful; I can see why it is called the veil nebula. Without reading the explanation about the sweeping action on nearby gas; It would be hard to imagine the broom name.
Being 3 times the angular size of the moon would make it a nice naked eye visual if it were only bright enough.

Orin

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080819.html

Quote: The expanding debris cloud gains it's colors
by sweeping up and exciting existing and nearby gas.

The wispy cloud is very intricate and colorful; I can see why it is called the veil nebula.
Without reading the explanation about the sweeping action on nearby gas; It would be hard to imagine the broom name.

She sweeps with many-colored Brooms --
And leaves the Shreds behind --
Oh Housewife in the Evening West --
Come back, and dust the Pond!

You dropped a Purple Ravelling in --
You dropped an Amber thread --
And how you've littered all the East
With duds of Emerald!

And still, she plies her spotted Brooms,
And still the Aprons fly,
Till Brooms fade softly into stars --
And then I come away --

- Emily Dickinson
-------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broomstick

<<Brooms have long been connected with witchcraft, almost universally portrayed as medieval-style round brooms and associated with female witches. Despite the association with women, in 1453, the first known case of claiming to have flown on a broomstick is recorded, confessed by the male witch Guillaume Edelin. There are, however, prior records of witches flying on sticks or similar objects, usually that had been first greased with a magical flying ointment.

Anecdotally, the broom served another purpose during periods of persecution. Witches and other magic practitioners would disguise their wands as broom sticks to avoid suspicion. It is also a tradition that brooms have been used by some as receptacles to harbor temporarily a particular spirit.

Today the broom is included in lists of ritual tools in many pagan guide books, where it is often referred to as a besom. A broom is sometimes laid at the opening of some covens' rossets. Representing the Element of Air, brooms are utilized in the purification of areas. They are used to sweep ritual circles clean of negative energy. The high priestess or high priest walks clockwise, traces the cast circle and sweeps with the broom a few inches off the ground. This practice can be used in addition to or in place of incense to purify a ritual space. It is often employed by those allergic to incense, and during rituals practiced in smoke-free areas. It is also a technique associated with "kitchen witches" who use what's on hand to work spells.>>
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[Case]

Being 3 times the angular size of the moon would make it a nice naked eye visual if it were only bright enough.

If you thought the broom was big, the whole of the Veil Nebula dwarfs that.

[orin stepanek]

Being 3 times the angular size of the moon would make it a nice naked eye visual if it were only bright enough.

If you thought the broom was big, the whole of the Veil Nebula dwarfs that.

I was sure of that! The Broom is part of the West end of the Veil.
from your inset though; is is only a small part of the west end. Thanks!

Orin

[Chris Peterson]

The wispy cloud is very intricate and colorful; I can see why it is called the veil nebula. Without reading the explanation about the sweeping action on nearby gas; It would be hard to imagine the broom name.

Most of the names we have for objects like this stem from their visual appearance in the eyepiece- gray, faint fuzzies all of them. With modern imaging we see so much more detail, and it often becomes impossible in these images to figure out how the common name ever came about. The forest has been lost for the trees.

[apodman]

With modern imaging we see so much more detail, ... The forest has been lost for the trees.

My opthalmologist assures me that, if you live to be 100, the normal crystallization of the lens and degeneration of the maculae will bring about the return of the forest. Be patient.

[emc]

As she lifted the veil from over her eyes
He was swept away from his heart felt reprise
Stutter and stammer toward the lady of light
But she disappears in a wispy emission nebula

[neufer]

The wispy cloud is very intricate and colorful; I can see why it is called the veil nebula. Without reading the explanation about the sweeping action on nearby gas; It would be hard to imagine the broom name.

Most of the names we have for objects like this stem from their visual appearance in the eyepiece- gray, faint fuzzies all of them. With modern imaging we see so much more detail, and it often becomes impossible in these images to figure out how the common name ever came about. The forest has been lost for the trees.

Perhaps one should step back a little:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070101.html

[orin stepanek]

Art; aren't you glad they used a different photo this time!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070101.html

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080819.html

52 Cygni really adds to the picture somehow. 8)

Orin

[NoelC]

What a wonderfully detailed image; almost hard to imagine we can get that kind of resolution and clarity from the ground. Truly a beautiful sight.

-Noel

[Arramon]

Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Astronomer Takes Astronomy Picture Of The Day
by Staff Writers
Tempe AZ (SPX) Aug 20, 2008
http://www.skynightly.com/reports/Mount ... y_999.html


This image of the Witch's Broom Nebula, NGC 6960, taken a few weeks ago by Adam Block with the 24-inch Mount Lemmon SkyCenter telescope, is the Aug. 19 Astronomy Picture of the Day. (Adam Block, Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona)

A stunning new astronomical image of the "Witch's Broom" Nebula taken by Adam Block of The University of Arizona Mount Lemmon SkyCenter is today's "Astronomy Picture of the Day."

Block of the UA's Steward Observatory, who coordinates public programs in astronomy at the SkyCenter, used the SkyCenter's 24-inch telescope to produce the image.

The telescope is the same one that the public uses in SkyNights, the astronomy evenings that Block runs atop 9,157-foot Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.

It is also the telescope that Block, an astrophotographer of renown, is using this week to teach a 3-day SkyCenter workshop called "Making Every Pixel Count." Block will share his expertise in producing spectacular images of deep sky objects with a dozen enrolled participants.

The Astronomical Picture of the Day Website, known as APOD, was founded in 1995 by two professional astronomers, Robert Nemiroff of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., and Jerry Bonnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The team, who continue to write, coordinate and edit APOD, has by now assembled the largest collection of annotated astronomical images on the Internet.

Block used the SkyCenter's 24-inch RC Optical Systems telescope with an SBIG STL-11000 CCD camera and Custom Scientific filters to acquire the image on July 29.

"I took three hours of unfiltered data and combined it with 50 minutes of color data in each filter (red, green and blue), so the total exposure time was 5.5 hours," he said.

Nemiroff and Bonnell posted this explanation along with Block's image:

"Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history, a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was an exploding star and record the colorful expanding cloud as the Veil Nebula.

"Pictured here is the west end of the Veil Nebula, known technically as NGC 6960, but less formally as the Witch's Broom Nebula. The expanding debris cloud gains its colors by sweeping up and exciting existing nearby gas. The supernova remnant lies about 1400 light years away towards the constellation of Cygnus. This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the angular size of the full moon. The bright star Cygnus is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but is unrelated to the ancient supernova."

The UA's Mount Lemmon SkyCenter offers public observing opportunities, workshops and hands-on learning experiences in many sciences.