Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  Crab nebula  ·  M 1  ·  NGC 1952
Messier 01 Crab Nebula, Tim Trentadue
Messier 01 Crab Nebula
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Messier 01 Crab Nebula

Messier 01 Crab Nebula, Tim Trentadue
Messier 01 Crab Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

Messier 01 Crab Nebula

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Description

A famous and conspicuous supernova remnant who's stellar explosion was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054ad. The supernova was powerful enough to have created a neutron star now known as The Crab Pulsar, rotating 30.2 times per second, and emitting x-rays.The supernova was visible in the day for over a month and at night for almost 2 years before fading below naked eye visibility.

The remnant seen here reminds me of a young Cygnus loop (Veil Nebula) another supernova remnant 9000 years old, the similarity in colour and the “string” like structure is apparent although much closer together in the Crab. Estimated to be 6,300 light years away the nebula is 13 x 11 light years across and is expanding at a rate of 1.800 km/sec. The total luminosity in all spectral ranges is over 75,000 suns!!

First discovered by John Bevis in 1731 Charles Messier independently discovered the Crab Nebula in 1758 when he was looking for Haley's comet, after realizing he had mistaken the nebula for the comet he decided to star a catalog of nebula that resembled comets, marking their location in the sky so future comet hunters would not be fooled as he was, the Crab Nebula was his first entry M1.

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Messier 01 Crab Nebula, Tim Trentadue