Hooked on the cosmos 😍 The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, left over from a massive stellar explosion that occurred 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. The original supernova would have been bright enough to be seen clearly from Earth with the naked eye. At three degrees across, the Cygnus Loop is as wide as six full moons in the night sky. This image is a combination of X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data by amateur astronomer John Stone — but the NASAChandraXray team has also just released a new 3D visualization of the Cygnus Loop. It visualizes how the blast wave from the explosion interacts with an isolated cloud of the interstellar medium (that is, dust and gas in between the stars). You can view that 3D model and others like it at nasa.gov/chandra. Image description: In the composite image, the remnant resembles a wispy cloud in oranges, blues, purples, and whites, shaped like a backwards letter C. The remnant is set ag...