Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula (M1) — the expanding wreckage of a star seen to explode in the year 1054, about 6,500 light-years away in Taurus. At its centre spins the Crab Pulsar, the neutron-star core the explosion left behind: a city-sized ball of neutrons turning about 30 times a second, its beam and its wind of particles lighting the whole nebula. The gas is still racing outward at roughly 1,500 km/s, almost a thousand years on.
Science
Physical
- Type
- Supernova remnant + pulsar wind nebula
- Distance
- ~6,500 light-years
- Diameter
- ~11 light-years, still expanding at ~1,500 km/s
- Central engine
- The Crab Pulsar — a neutron star spinning ~30 times per second
- Supernova seen
- 4 July 1054 (SN 1054), recorded by Chinese & Japanese astronomers
How we know
- Note
- The image is a REAL Hubble Space Telescope mosaic (NASA, ESA, J. Hester & A. Loll, ASU — public domain), shown as a camera-facing billboard at the remnant's real position — presented as seen from Earth. The 1054 date and the pulsar's spin are directly measured facts.
Discovery & history
- Name
- Messier's 1st entry (M1); named the 'Crab' from Lord Rosse's 1844 sketch of its filaments.
The supernova of 1054 (SN 1054) was recorded by Chinese astronomers, who saw the 'guest star' appear on 4 July 1054 near the horn of Taurus and shine in broad daylight for 23 days — brighter than Venus — and in the night sky for some 653 days. The event also survives in Japanese records (Fujiwara no Teika's diary, the Meigetsuki) and in the Arab world. John Bevis rediscovered the nebula in 1731; it became the first entry (M1) in Messier's catalogue, and the Earl of Rosse's 1844 drawing gave it the 'Crab' name. The central pulsar was found in 1968, confirming the link to the 1054 explosion.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image