60 minutes exposure. Fuji Provia 400 slide film.
135mm f/2.8 Vivitar lens.
The Veil nebula is a huge, ancient supernova remnant located in south-eastern Cygnus, near the border with Vulpecular. The most convienient stars to use as a guide in locating it are either the 2nd magnitude epsilon cygni, which lies 3 degrees to the north, or the 3rd magnitude zeta cygni, which lies about 5 degrees to the east. The size of the veil is what catches many inexperienced observers. It is over 2 degrees across. So large that it has several NGC designations. Although some sections are very faint, much of it is not difficult providing the skies are dark. I have found much of it readily visible with 80mm binoculars under magnitude 7.0 skies.
In an 8" telescope, the easiest portion of the nebula to observe is the section shown above. This is the western portion, NGC 6960 with the star 52 cygni. It is the presence of this star that makes this section relatively easy to observe. The photograph below shows a wider field and includes some of the fainter portions of the nebula including those labeled NGC 6974 and NGC 6979.
The large open cluster visible in the upper right is NGC 6940.
It was interesting to notice in the above image, the very large "bubble" of emission between the North America nebula and the Veil nebula. I have not seen any references to this patch of nebulosity.
