Astronomy Picture of the Day -- M1: The Crab Nebula

NASA ^ | November 21, 2014 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on Charles Messier's famous 18th century list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, debris from the death explosion of a massive star, witnessed by astronomers in the year 1054. This sharp, ground-based telescopic view uses narrowband data to track emission from ionized oxygen and hydrogen atoms (in blue and red) and explore the tangled filaments within the still expanding cloud. One of the most exotic objects known to modern astronomers, the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30 times a second, is visible as a bright spot near the nebula's center. Like a cosmic dynamo, this collapsed remnant of the stellar core powers the Crab's emission across the electromagnetic spectrum. Spanning about 12 light-years, the Crab Nebula is a mere 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

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[Slyfox]

Crab?

[NormsRevenge]

A remnant?

Still looks like ya could cook an egg in any place in near proximity to it..

BTW, rich crop of dungeness this year.. Probably due to global warming.. Bon appetite!!

[COBOL2Java]

X-Ray (left) and optical (right) images of the Crab pulsar

[Telepathic Intruder]

Two photos, 27 years apart shows it actually expanding:



And at the core, a rapidly spinning stellar remnant:



Oh wait, not that...

[GeronL]

maybe our solar system is just closer?

[SunkenCiv]

I’m saving that image to the drive, oh, and the Crab Nebula timelapse was also nice.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Not in just 27 years. You have to compare it to the background stars, which remain motionless.

[RedMDer]

[SunkenCiv]

Nice!

[Nateman]

Did you notice the star in the upper right disappearing? Maybe a planet or asteroid?

[Telepathic Intruder]

Yes, and that’s what I thought too. There are more stars in the later picture because it’s better quality. The disappearing one in the earlier must be something else.

[TigersEye]

It looks kind of like a space tornado in X-ray.

[Nateman]

I think I figured it out. It was on the margin and the latest picture has that margin cut. The proof is another star that only has half it’s glow.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Well now I can sleep at night again, thanks :)

[SuziQ]

I love these pictures of celestial objects!