Science Source Stock Photo - Crab Nebula, M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A

Crab Nebula, M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A

Description: Color composite formed from two images of the well-known Crab Nebula, taken on the night of October 27, 1995 with the NOAO/STIS/Tektronix 2048x2048 CCD detector on the 3.5-meter WIYN telescope. The Crab Nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion in the year 1054 A.D., which was recorded in five separate accounts from Chinese astronomers in the Far East. The red tendrils are excited gas, emitting strong H-alpha radiation. The nebula was probably first noticed in 1731 by John Bevis, and it was significant enough to be the first entry in Charles Messier's list of nebulae. The nebula continues to expand and change the details of its appearance, and this is partly due to the violence of the original explosion. However, the star which exploded left behind a rotating neutron star, which continues to beam energy out into the nebula, as well as flashing with s period of only 33 milliseconds.

Credit:

J. Gallagher/UW-Madison/WIYN/NOAO/NSF/Science Source

Unique identifier: SS2708495

Legacy Identifier: JC5413

Type: Image

Size: 3750px × 3750px (~40 MB)

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