M1, the Crab Nebula, is the debris left by the death of a massive star when it exploded in a brilliant flash of light and energy nearly a thousand years ago. We can see many intricate details in the remains left by that supernova – wispy tendrils of gas and dust intertwine illuminated by the intense radiation emitted by the pulsar at its core.
Chinese astronomers noticed the appearance of a new star in July 1054. It was visible during the daytime for 23 days, shining six times brighter than Venus at its peak. Anyone familiar with the night sky would have been able to see it for 653 days — almost two years — with the naked eye. Other observations of the explosion were recorded by Japanese, Arabic, and Native American stargazers. Surprisingly, there is no record that any Europeans, mired in the middle of their Dark Ages, noticed the new star.
M 1 (89 min total exposure Feb 8, 2024)
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The Crab is approximately 6,500 light-years away from Earth. (A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is about 5.88 trillion miles.)
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At the heart of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar, a super-dense remnant of the original star. You can see it in the image. Despite being only 18 miles across, it spins rapidly, completing over 30 rotations every second! It emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves. At X-ray and gamma ray wavelengths, the Crab pulsar is generally the brightest object in the sky!
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The Crab was the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historically-observed supernova explosion.
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It is a fairly small object in our sky, only about 1/6 the diameter of the moon.
Early astronomers thought its appearance reminded them of a crab, which is how it got its name. I must admit, I don’t really see the resemblance. Do you?
I shared an earlier picture of the Crab Nebula that I took over four years ago. You can click here to revisit that post.