Veil nebula in Cygnus like many other sky gems has been discovered by William Herschel. He described its western part as “Extended; passes thro’ 52 Cygni… near 2 degree in length” and eastern end as “Branching nebulosity… The following part divides into several streams uniting again towards the south.” . It is a remnants of supernova explosion that took place several thousands years ago. It is pretty large but faint nebula placed about 1400 light years away. 

Five years ago I already imaged western and eastern Veil separately using Canon 20D and 6″ newtonian, and this time I decided to picture it at once. I used 135mm lens, so whole Veil complex is now framed plus some more – NGC6940 open cluster (already in Little Fox constellation) at lower right and faint Sh2-102 hydrogen patch next to bright 41 Cygni star at the right part. Image is composite of 150 minutes of Ha and Oiii narrowband exposures and 3×24 minutes of RGB. Made with QHY163M camera on Smart EQ Pro mount at Anticiana, Toscana. Conditions were pretty good. RGB filters gave not much data, but narrowband hydrogen alpha and oxygen III did the trick.

Veil nebulae complex in Cygnus
Veil nebulae complex in Cygnus

Large version https://astrojolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2017-08-15-VeilHORGB3.jpg

Clear skies!