Capture Technical Specs

• Object: Caldwell 34 (C 34 / NGC 6960 – Western Veil Nebula)
• Popular Name: The Witch’s Broom Nebula
• Total Integration Time: 255 minutes (4 Hours, 15 Minutes)
• Estimated Frames: ~1,530 sub-exposures (10-second stacks)
• Session Reference Date: August 25, 2026 (21:22 EDT)
• Equipment: ZWO Seestar S50
• Processing: Internal Seestar App Multi-Session Stacking

This morning I finalized processing on this multi-session capture of Caldwell 34 (NGC 6960), popularly known as the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

Why is it Called the Witch’s Broom?

The nebula gets its famous nickname from its distinct visual shape in deep-space images. Caldwell 34 is a bright segment of the Cygnus Loop—a massive supernova remnant created when a star exploded thousands of years ago. The bright, naked-eye star 52 Cygni sits directly along the cloud, forming the handle of the broom, while the ionized gases sweep out behind it like long, frayed bristles.

Accumulating 255 minutes (4 hours and 15 minutes) across multiple sessions allowed the Seestar S50 to reveal intricate filaments of glowing hydrogen and oxygen gas. Combining data over several nights in the Seestar app makes capturing faint supernova remnants like this straightforward right from the back deck.