Double-Wide Image of Pickering's Triangle

Downloadable versions (see NOAO Conditions of Use):
250 x 129 27 KB color JPG(on this page)
500 x 257 232 KB color JPG
1000 x 514 657 KB color JPG
2000 x 1027 2.35 MB color JPG
4000 x 2053 8.24 MB color JPG
4000 x 2053 23.53 MB color TIFF

Pickering's Triangle is part of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, which includes the famous Veil Nebula. It is located about 1,500 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Astronomers estimate that the supernova explosion that produced the nebula occurred between 5,000 to 10,000 years ago; the entire shell stretches more than six full Moons in width across the sky.

This new image was obtained in September 2007 by Travis Rector and Heidi Schweiker by combining two full pointings of the 64-megapixel NOAO Mosaic-1 imager mounted on the National Science Foundation's historic Mayall 4-meter telescope. The image was released in Austin, Texas, at the 211th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, and was the subject of NOAO Press Release 08-01.

Minimum credit line: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF (for details see Conditions of Use)