Carlos Uriarte - Astroterrat-
Messier 1
The Crab Nebula is the remnant of a massive star that ended its life in a supernova explosion.
Almost a thousand years ago, the explosion was recorded in the constellation Taurus by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054…
The spectacular Crab Nebula, the first object in the Messier Catalog According to the records of these Chinese astronomers, the supernova explosion was visible to broad daylight for 23 days, shining six times brighter than Venus. At night, it remained visible for 653 days (almost two years) with the naked eye. Japanese, Arab, and Native American astronomers also noted observations of it (and, interestingly, no one in Europe).
In 1731, the British astronomer John Bevis observed a kind of cloudy droplet in the sky and included it in his star atlases, although it was Charles Messier (who observed it himself) who added it to his catalog 27 years later. .
For a time, Messier himself took credit for the discovery of the nebula, until he was contacted by the British, who corrected him. Messier 1 is a plerion (or pulsar wind nebula), that is, the nebula is made up of material ejected by a pulsar interacting with interstellar gas and the pulsar's own magnetic field. Charles Messier The Crab Nebula expands at a rate of 1,500 kilometers per second and contains two faint stars in the center, one of which is the pulsar, and is well known for its complex structure, full of dusty filaments that can be seen in the visible spectrum. It contains enough dust, made up of carbons and silicates, to create 30,000 to 40,000 earths. Furthermore, it is the most powerful persistent source of X-rays and gamma rays known. The pulsar in the center is called the Crab Pulsar, and it is about 30 kilometers across. It rotates on itself in just 33 milliseconds (that is, it makes about 30 revolutions per second) and is tremendously useful for studying objects that pass in front of the nebula and block its radiation, such as the Sun, the moons and the stars. planets of the Solar System. Without going any further, in 2003, scientists used it to measure the thickness of the atmosphere of Titan (moon of Saturn), and in the middle of the last century it was used to map the Sun's corona. Messier 1 has an apparent magnitude of 8, 4 and cannot be seen with the naked eye. If you want to see it with binoculars, you will need the conditions to be unbeatable (and nothing to be close to a city). In a 4-inch telescope, you will be able to see some trace of the nebula's shape in its central region, and in smaller telescopes it will look like a comet with a tail. The filaments and details of the nebula are only visible in telescopes 16 inches or larger, and in very good viewing conditions.
Messier 1
The Crab Nebula is the remnant of a massive star that ended its life in a supernova explosion.
Almost a thousand years ago, the explosion was recorded in the constellation Taurus by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054…
The spectacular Crab Nebula, the first object in the Messier Catalog According to the records of these Chinese astronomers, the supernova explosion was visible to broad daylight for 23 days, shining six times brighter than Venus. At night, it remained visible for 653 days (almost two years) with the naked eye. Japanese, Arab, and Native American astronomers also noted observations of it (and, interestingly, no one in Europe).
In 1731, the British astronomer John Bevis observed a kind of cloudy droplet in the sky and included it in his star atlases, although it was Charles Messier (who observed it himself) who added it to his catalog 27 years later. .
For a time, Messier himself took credit for the discovery of the nebula, until he was contacted by the British, who corrected him. Messier 1 is a plerion (or pulsar wind nebula), that is, the nebula is made up of material ejected by a pulsar interacting with interstellar gas and the pulsar's own magnetic field. Charles Messier The Crab Nebula expands at a rate of 1,500 kilometers per second and contains two faint stars in the center, one of which is the pulsar, and is well known for its complex structure, full of dusty filaments that can be seen in the visible spectrum. It contains enough dust, made up of carbons and silicates, to create 30,000 to 40,000 earths. Furthermore, it is the most powerful persistent source of X-rays and gamma rays known. The pulsar in the center is called the Crab Pulsar, and it is about 30 kilometers across. It rotates on itself in just 33 milliseconds (that is, it makes about 30 revolutions per second) and is tremendously useful for studying objects that pass in front of the nebula and block its radiation, such as the Sun, the moons and the stars. planets of the Solar System. Without going any further, in 2003, scientists used it to measure the thickness of the atmosphere of Titan (moon of Saturn), and in the middle of the last century it was used to map the Sun's corona. Messier 1 has an apparent magnitude of 8, 4 and cannot be seen with the naked eye. If you want to see it with binoculars, you will need the conditions to be unbeatable (and nothing to be close to a city). In a 4-inch telescope, you will be able to see some trace of the nebula's shape in its central region, and in smaller telescopes it will look like a comet with a tail. The filaments and details of the nebula are only visible in telescopes 16 inches or larger, and in very good viewing conditions.