September 24, 2015

New observations of the Veil Nebula (Cygnus Loop) were obtained in April 2015 by the Hubble Heritage Team. These include 6 tiles in a 3x2 mosaic with the WFC3/UVIS channel in three narrowband and two broadband filters (Fig. 1). Parallel observations with the ACS/WFC were also obtained to create an H-alpha mosaic adjacent to and overlapping the WFC3 H-alpha mosaic (Fig. 2). A summary of the observations is given in Table 1, while the footprints are labeled in Figure 3. For more details on the observing strategy, see the proposal 14056, PI: Zolt Levay and the README file.

The wider field of view, higher resolution, and broader wavelength coverage of the new images highlight the improved capabilities of HST over its long-lasting operation, made possible by the upgraded instrumentation installed during Space Shuttle servicing missions. Since these new mosaics represent a significant investment of expert processing beyond the standard archival products, these AstroDrizzle-combined FITS images have now been released as High-Level Science Products via the B. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). We provide a list of downloadable FITS files which include both the drizzled science (sci) and weight (wht) images, where the latter provide an effective exposure time map for each filter.

The FITS files and their PNG previews follow the naming convention:

   hlsp_heritage_hst_ii-ii_veil_fffff_v1_ttt.fits

where:

ii-ii - instrument used ("acs-wfc" or "wfc3-uvis")

fffff - filter (e.g., "f502n" or "f658n")

ttt - the file type: "drc" (science-grade, drizzled images), or "wht" (weights)