Located at an estimated distance of 1,440 light years, NGC 6992 is the eastern part of a very large supernova remnant known as the Veil Nebula.  It is thought that the star that gave birth to the Veil exploded between 5000 and 10,000 years ago.  Astronomers estimate that the supernova had a peak brightness of -8 magnitude.  This would be about as bright as a crescent moon.  It would have been a spectacular sight!  Supernova explosions seed interstellar space with heavy elements that new stars and their planets incorporate when they are born.  Life as we know it could not have developed without the heavy elements created in the cores of stars like the one that formed the Veil Nebula.

¹ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010928.html