A delicate shock front crossing Cygnus, with filamentary blue and red strands from a long-ago supernova.
- What am I looking at?
- The Witch's Broom is a filament of the Veil Nebula, the expanding remnant of a supernova that exploded thousands of years ago.
- How far away is it?
- About 2,400 light-years away.
- Where is it in the sky?
- In Cygnus, near the star 52 Cygni.
- Why does it matter?
- Supernova remnants like this reveal the physics of exploded stars and shocked interstellar gas.
- When is the best time to photograph it?
- Summer when Cygnus is well placed, ideally under dark skies.
Capture summary
Nebula in Cygnus
13 days in 2022 / Moon 33%
Ha, OIII
Summer target / wide composition
- R 20m 20 x 60s / 30 Jun 2022 / Moon 2%
- G 21m 21 x 60s / 30 Jun, 3 Jul 2022 / Moon 9%
- B 20m 20 x 60s / 3 Jul 2022 / Moon 17%
- H-alpha 8h 96 x 300s / 6 days in 2022 / Moon 48%
- OIII 12h 35m 151 x 300s / 11 days in 2022 / Moon 34%
- Totals 21h 36m 13 days in 2022 / Moon 33%
Same target, different years.
Older revisions stay in the archive so you can see how the target changed with different equipment, processing, and experience.
When to image this target
Nebula in Cygnus; best planned for June through August from New Jersey.
Summer targets often improve later at night as the Milky Way climbs higher.
Assumes a New Jersey backyard horizon and evening imaging.
Emission nebulae are good candidates for narrowband filters; reflection nebulae prefer darker skies.
NGC 6960 is listed here in Cygnus.
Current frame: Narrowband / Ha, OIII.
Live altitude, moon, and filter guidance
Calculating target altitude and moon context.
Use the full planner to enter a ZIP code, choose a date, and compare the target from your sky.
Based on the current time.
Green marks usable dark-sky altitude.
Next upper transit.
Approximate horizon crossing.
Moon phase and altitude.
Acquisition & processing notes
Filter channels, integration times, and capture dates for this frame. View on AstroBin.
- R 20 x 60s, 20m, 30 Jun 2022, Moon 2%
- G 21 x 60s, 21m, 30 Jun, 3 Jul 2022, Moon 9%
- B 20 x 60s, 20m, 3 Jul 2022, Moon 17%
- H-alpha 96 x 300s, 8h, 6 days in 2022, Moon 48%
- OIII 151 x 300s, 12h 35m, 11 days in 2022, Moon 34%
- Totals 21h 36m, 13 days in 2022, Moon 33%
Field notes for this target.
Browse all capture notesHow I captured this
| Channel | Frames | Time | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|
| R | 20 x 60s | 20m | 2% |
| G | 21 x 60s | 21m | 9% |
| B | 20 x 60s | 20m | 17% |
| H-alpha | 96 x 300s | 8h | 48% |
| OIII | 151 x 300s | 12h 35m | 34% |
| Totals | — | 21h 36m | 33% |
- Equipment used
- From my current rig
- Mount
- iOptron CEM60
- Telescope
- Explore Scientific FCD100 127mm Carbon Fiber Triplet APO
- Camera
- ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Filters
- Chroma 36mm Ha, OIII, SII, and LRGB (ZWO EFW 7×36mm)
- Focuser / rotator
- MoonLite NiteCrawler
- Reducer
- Starizona Apex ED 0.65×
- Guiding
- ZWO off-axis guider + ASI290MM Mini
- Control / power
- PrimaLuceLab Eagle 4S, Powerwerx PSU, Bioenno field battery, and MEGAbox
