Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional
astronomer.
July 25, 1995
M1: The Crab Nebula
Credit: The Electronic Universe Project
Explanation:
In the year 1054 a star in the constellation of Taurus exploded in a
spectacular
supernova so bright it appeared to
dominate the sky except for the Sun and Moon for many days.
It left behind one of the most
brilliant nebulae, listed first in
Charles Messier's list of nebulous sky
objects. Today we know that the centre of the nebula houses the remnant
of the explosion: a spinning
neutron star called a pulsar.
The Crab pulsar
is visible in almost every part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and has
been a useful astronomical tool. It is still unclear how the the pulsar
emits the light that we see.
For more information on M1 see The Electronic Universe Project's
write-up.
Many images of Messier objects can be found in
The Electronic Universe Project's
The Galaxy Gallery: Messier Objects.
Tomorrow's picture:
M15: A Great Globular Cluster
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry
Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.:
Jay Norris.
Specific rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA
at
NASA/
GSFC
&:
Michigan Tech. U.