Name: Cygnus Loop
Constellation: Cygnus

Ahh, it's been two months!!!!

Cygnus Loop is a massive nebula complex, the apparent size of about 40 full moons. Technically, this picture is only of half the loop; the Eastern Veil Nebula is on the left, and Pickering's Triangle on the right. A bit of the Western Veil is visible at the bottom right.

The complex is so large that it does not have one specific discoverer. William Herschel generally gets the credit for the complex, though much of it's details, like Pickering's Triangle, were discovered photographically in the late 1800's. Still, the Veil's are easily visible, even in small telescopes.

The complex is a supernova remnant, left overs of a massive star that exploded tens of thousands of years ago. But the whole constellation of Cygnus is teeming with nebula, as it's right on the "rift" of the Milky Way. You could spend hours looking at it through a telescope, searching for nebula. For that reason Cygnus, along side Pegasus and Scorpius, are my favorite constellations.

What I love about the Cygnus loop is it's colors. They're highly separated in a way that almost looks fake (which is probably why ILNP named a nail polish after it). This is a characteristic of most remnants, but for whatever reason, Cygnus really stands out.

RT: https://poa.st/objects/694e446e-21dd-4985-a507-d789d6aaef40