Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  Crab nebula  ·  LBN 833  ·  M 1  ·  NGC 1952  ·  PGC 1660066  ·  Sh2-244
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Crab Nebula (M1 / NGC1952), DoubleStarPhotography
Powered byPixInsight

Crab Nebula (M1 / NGC1952)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Crab Nebula (M1 / NGC1952), DoubleStarPhotography
Powered byPixInsight

Crab Nebula (M1 / NGC1952)

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The famous Crab Nebula, Messier object 1 and NGC1952.  The nebula was first thought to have been noticed in 1731 by John Bevis, and it was significant enough to be the first entry in Charles Messier's list of discovered nebulae.

The Crab Nebula was originally given it's name due to its resemblance to a crab's claw (not the full-body image of a crab), in an early sketch made in 1855 by Lord Rosse's staff astronomer R.J. Mitchell.  As higher resolution images became available, this caricature has become far less compelling, but the name has stuck none the less.

M1 is the remnant of a supernova explosion in the year 1054 A.D., which was recorded in five separate accounts by Chinese astronomers at the time. It's interesting that that no western observation of this event appears to have survived, since it was certainly one of the most spectacular supernovae events in recorded histroy.

The red tendrils are excited gas, emitting strong H-alpha radiation. The nebula continues to expand and change the details of its appearance as tme goes on.

Comments