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Credit & Copyright: Detlef Hartmann
Explanation:
The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first on
Charles
Messier's famous list of things which are
not comets.
In fact, the Crab is
now known to be a supernova remnant, an expanding
cloud of debris from the explosion of a massive star.
The violent birth of the Crab was
witnessed
by astronomers in the year 1054.
Roughly 10 light-years across today, the nebula is still expanding
at a rate of over 1,000 kilometers per second.
Over the past decade, its expansion has been documented in
this stunning
time-lapse movie.
In each year from 2008 to 2017, an image was produced with the same
telescope and camera from a remote observatory in Austria.
Combined in the time-lapse movie, the 10 images represent 32 hours of total
integration time.
The sharp, processed frames even reveal the
dynamic
energetic emission within the incredible expanding Crab.
The Crab Nebula lies about 6,500 light-years away in the
constellation Taurus.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 1 - Crab Nebula
Publications with words: M 1 - Crab Nebula
See also: