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A star's spectacular death in the constellation Taurus was observed on Earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D. Now, almost a thousand years later, a superdense neutron star left behind by the stellar death is spewing out a blizzard of extremely high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula.
This composite image uses data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray image is shown in light blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical images are in green and dark blue, and the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image is in red. The size of the X-ray image is smaller than the others because ultrahigh-energy X-ray emitting electrons radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. The neutron star, which has the mass equivalent to the sun crammed into a rapidly spinning ball of neutrons twelve miles across, is the bright white dot in the center of the image.
Image credit:
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Minn./R.Gehrz
Learn more about Chandra:
chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/crab/
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian Reflector, Olympus E410 at prime focus. EQ6 Syntrek Mount.
Out of 25 frames captured (50s at ISO 800), 24 were used in the processing. Also 10 dark frames.
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and final levels adjusted with G.I.M.P.
The light pollution at my location makes this a difficult target to image. A reasonable outcome considering equipment and the exposure times used.
Look at what Webb can SEA!
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is revealing exquisite, never-before-seen details in the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away. Using Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), a team is searching for answers about the Crab Nebula’s origins.
Astronomers are continuing to further analyze the Webb data and consulting previous observations of the remnant taken by other telescopes. Within the next year, scientists will have newer Hubble data of the supernova remnant to review as well.
Image description: The Crab Nebula, an oval nebula with complex structure against a black background. On the nebula’s exterior, particularly at the top left and bottom left, lie curtains of glowing red and orange fluffy material. Its interior shell shows large-scale loops of mottled filaments of yellow-white and green, studded with clumps and knots. Translucent thin ribbons of smoky white lie within the remnant’s interior, brightest toward its center. The white material follows different directions throughout, including sometimes sharply curving away from certain regions within the remnant. A faint, wispy ring of white material encircles the very center of the nebula. Around and within the supernova remnant are many points of blue, red, and yellow light.
#NASA #JWST #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #Astronomy #Space #Supernova #CrabNebula #Nebula #Telescopes #Webb #Hubble #HubbleSpaceTelescope #NASAMarshall
The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is the result of a supernova that was first observed and then recorded in Chinese astronomical writings in the year 1054. The Crab Nebula is found in the constellation Taurus and is about 6,700 light years away. This explosion was so bright that it was visible during daylight hours for over 20 days and remained visible in the night sky for over two years.
Observation data: J2000.0 epoch
Right ascension: 05h 34m 31.94s
Declination: +22° 00′ 52.2″
Distance: 6500 ly
Apparent magnitude (V): 8.4
Apparent dimensions (V): 420″ × 290″
Constellation: Taurus
Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 4 Hours and 7 Minutes using 60 second exposures, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in PixInsight. Image Date: November 2, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
This is my sketch for day 59 of my UKMON Fireball Challenge, and it's a pastel sketch of the Crab Nebula. I love this object and although I've already done an acrylic painting of this object (many years ago as a gift for my husband not long after we first met), I really wanted to create a pastel sketch of it as well.
Sketched with coloured + black and white pastel pencils on black paper. My reference photo was an image of M1 that was taken with the 2 Metre Faulkes Telescope but I stacked and processed it myself. I created the transparency to the background by scraping some of the pastel pencil with a scalpel blade directly onto the paper then tapped and blended it with a dry, fluffy brush. I did several layers of that then once I was happy I used the pencils in the conventional way to add fine details. To finish, I added stars using a Posca white paint pen.
My reference photo was taken with the Faulkes 2 metre telescope, but I stacked and processed the data myself after attending a remote imaging workshop.
Just one more day of this challenge left!
In the year 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers were startled by the appearance of a new star, so bright that it was visible in broad daylight for several weeks. Today, the Crab Nebula is visible at the site of the "Guest Star." Located about 6,500 light-years from Earth, the Crab Nebula is the remnant of a star that began its life with about 10 times the mass of our own Sun. Its life ended on July 4, 1054 when it exploded as a supernova. In this image, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has zoomed in on the center of the Crab to reveal its structure with unprecedented detail.
The Crab Nebula data were obtained by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in 1995. Images taken with five different color filters have been combined to construct this new false-color picture. Resembling an abstract painting by Jackson Pollack, the image shows ragged shards of gas that are expanding away from the explosion site at over 3 million miles per hour.
The core of the star has survived the explosion as a pulsar, visible in the Hubble image as the lower of the two moderately bright stars to the upper left of center. The pulsar is a neutron star that spins on its axis 30 times a second. It heats its surroundings, creating the ghostly diffuse bluish-green glowing gas cloud in its vicinity, including a blue arc just to its right.
The colorful network of filaments is the material from the outer layers of the star that was expelled during the explosion. The picture is somewhat deceptive in that the filaments appear to be close to the pulsar. In reality, the yellowish green filaments toward the bottom of the image are closer to us, and approaching at some 300 miles per second. The orange and pink filaments toward the top of the picture include material behind the pulsar, rushing away from us at similar speeds.
The various colors in the picture arise from different chemical elements in the expanding gas, including hydrogen (orange), nitrogen (red), sulfur (pink), and oxygen (green). The shades of color represent variations in the temperature and density of the gas, as well as changes in the elemental composition.
Kris Davidson (U. Minn.) led the research team of William P. Blair (JHU), Robert A. Fesen (Dartmouth), Alan Uomoto (JHU), Gordon M. MacAlpine (U. Mich.), and Richard B.C. Henry (U. Okla.) in the collection of the HST data. The Hubble Heritage Team created the color image from black and white data processed by Dr. Blair.
Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: W.P. Blair (JHU)
Image Number: PR00-15
Date: June 1, 2000
This monochrome image doesn’t show the central bluish light of this unusual nebula which is part supernova remnant and part pulsar wind nebula.
The bluish colour comes from synchrotron radiation- photons emitted from electrons travelling at relativistic speeds in curved paths around the intense electromagnetic dynamo generated by the rotating neutron star which is the remnant left after the supernova explosion.
The outer fragments are lit by emission from ionised gases.
Il 4 luglio dell’anno 1054 apparve una 'stella ospite' a est di Tianguan (Zeta Tauri). Brillò anche di giorno, per 23 giorni." Così le cronache cinesi documentarono l’esplosione di una supernova, la cui luce viaggiò per 6.500 anni prima di raggiungere la Terra.
Una supernova è l'atto finale di una stella molto grande. Ad un certo punto esaurisce l'energia del suo nucleo e prima implode e poi esplode in poche ore con una energia pari a miliardi di volte quella del Sole, concentrata in pochi giorni.
Oggi, ciò che resta di quella immane esplosione è M1, la Nebulosa del Granchio, un intricato intreccio di gas in espansione.
Al centro, la pulsar del Granchio ruota 30 volte al secondo, emettendo lampi di radiazione che modellano le nubi circostanti.
Fotografarla dai cieli inquinati di Padova è stata una sfida: la sua luce tenue è soffocata dal bagliore artificiale e dalla foschia. Prossimamente riproverò a fotografarla usando una focale più lunga e soprattutto un filtro speciale che mi aiuterà a filtrare le luci della città.
Buona giornata
#M1 #CrabNebula #NebulosaDelGranchio #Astrofotografia #Supernova #DeepSky #Pulsar #Cosmos #SpaceLovers #Nebulae #Astronomia #LongExposure #StarGazing #Astrophotography #CieliInquinati #LightPollution #NightSky #Universe #Telescopio #SkyWatcher
Description: In the Crab Nebula, a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar (white dot near the center), powers the dramatic activity seen by Chandra. The inner X-ray ring is thought to be a shock wave that marks the boundary between the surrounding nebula and the flow of matter and antimatter particles from the pulsar. Energetic particles move outward to brighten the outer ring and produce an extended X-ray glow. The jets perpendicular to the ring are due to matter and antimatter particles spewing out from the poles of the pulsar. The fingers, loops and bays visible on the outer boundary of the nebula are likely caused by confinement of the high-energy particles by magnetic forces.
Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory
The Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray
Date: 2008
Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/crab/
Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Gift line: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward et al.
Accession number: crab
Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula in Taurus
Credit: ZTF, PanSTARRS, Giuseppe Donatiello
J2000.0 RA 05h 34m 31.94s Dec +22° 00′ 52.2″
The Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in Taurus. Corresponding to a bright supernova recorded in 1054.
At the center of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star 28–30 kilometres (17–19 mi) across with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second, which emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves.
M1 (Crab Nebula) Sii Ha Oiii
I could spend all winter imaging this, in my mind there is no better planetary nebula. A good way to end the year.
Equipment:
Mount-Paramount ME
Image Train:- SBIG STL 6303 -> Astrodon MOAG-> OTA
OTA: - Celestron HD14
Filtration: Heutech IDAS LPS-P2 prefilter, Astrondon NB
Plate solve:
RA 05h 34m 32.3s, Dec +21° 58' 56.4"
Pos Angle +05° 37.7', FL 3850.7 mm, 0.96"/Pixel
Collection Dates: Dec 14,20,23,29 30 2012
5 X 30 minutes bin 2 (Sii 3u ) Red (150 minutes)
8 X 30 minutes bin 2 (Ha 3u ) Grn (240 minutes)
9 X 30 minutes bin 2 (Oiii 3u) Blu (270 minutes)
Total time on target 660 minutes 11.0 hours
Imaging: CCD Autopilot driving SkyX/Maxim DL/Robofocus guiding thru Maxim DL thru MOAG 0.1 hrz
Process: Calibration/Assembly Maxim DL, post processing PixInsite/Photohop
Montes Apenninus are a rugged mountain range on the northern part of the Moon's near side. They are named after the Apennine Mountains in Italy. With their formation dating back about 3.9 billion years, Montes Apenninus are still relatively young.
Crab Nebula and Zeta Tauri
Credit: Dss2/Giuseppe Donatiello
05h 37m 38,685s +21° 08′ 33,16″
Zeta Tauri (ζ Tauri, ), officially named Tianguan, at 417 light-years is a 11.2 solar masses binary star in Taurus, the Bull. It has an apparent visual 3.0 magnitude. Zeta Tauri shows variation in its spectrum and brightness. The General Catalogue of Variable Stars lists it as an eclipsing variable.
Messier 1 (NGC 1952) - The Crab Nebula
05h 34m 31,97s 22° 00′ 52,1″
In 1054, Chinese astronomers report of a “guest star” that was visible in the daytime sky for about a month. The “guest star” was a supernova explosion, which gave rise to the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide remnant.
With a magnitude 8.4 and located 6,500 light-years, the Crab Nebula can be spotted in small telescope. The nebula was discovered by John Bevis in 1731, and later observed by Charles Messier.
This mosaic was assembled from six Dss2 plates. RGB data from DSLR exposures.
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula in the search for answers about the supernova remnant’s origins. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) have revealed new details in infrared light.
Similar to the Hubble optical wavelength image released in 2005, with Webb the remnant appears to consist of a crisp, cage-like structure of fluffy red-orange filaments of gas that trace doubly ionised sulphur (sulphur III). Within the remnant’s interior, yellow-white and green fluffy ridges form large-scale loop-like structures, which represent areas where dust particles reside.
The area within is composed of translucent, milky material. This material is emitting synchrotron radiation, which is emitted across the electromagnetic spectrum but becomes particularly vibrant thanks to Webb’s sensitivity and spatial resolution. It is generated by particles accelerated to extremely high speeds as they wind around magnetic field lines. The synchrotron radiation can be traced throughout the majority of the Crab Nebula’s interior.
Locate the wisps that follow a ripple-like pattern in the middle. In the centre of this ring-like structure is a bright white dot: a rapidly rotating neutron star. Further out from the core, follow the thin white ribbons of the radiation. The curvy wisps are closely grouped together, following different directions that mimic the structure of the pulsar’s magnetic field. Note how certain gas filaments are bluer in colour. These areas contain singly ionised iron (iron II).
[Image description: An oval nebula with a complex structure against a black background. On the oval’s exterior lie curtains of glowing red and orange fluffy material. Interior to this outer shell lie large-scale loops of mottled filaments of yellow-white and green, studded with clumps and knots. Translucent thin ribbons of smoky white lie within the remnant’s interior, brightest toward its centre.]
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, T. Temim (Princeton University)
Capture Details -
Date: November 21, 2023
Bortle Class 5 backyard, SF Bay Area (East Bay)
Nebula Capture: 8 x 600s Ha, Oiii and Sii, Dithered
Stars Capture: 10 x 60s R, G and B
Telescope: Askar 107PHQ
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro
ZWO EFW 7x36mm
Astronomik 6nm Narrowband Filters, 36mm
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM mini
ZWO OAG-L
Mount: iOptron GEM45
Calibrated with Darks, Flats and Dark Flats
ZWO ASIAIR Plus Control and Capture
Processed with DSS and Photoshop CC
In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, four newly processed images of supernova remnants dramatically
illustrate Chandra’s unique ability to explore high-energy processes in the cosmos.
This image shows the famous Crab Nebula. In 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers and others around the world noticed a new bright object in the sky. This “new star” was, in fact, the supernova explosion that created what is now called the Crab Nebula. At the center of the Crab Nebula is an extremely dense, rapidly rotating neutron star left behind by the explosion. The neutron star, also known as a pulsar, is spewing out a blizzard of high-energy particles, producing the expanding X-ray nebula seen by Chandra. In this new image, lower-energy X-rays from Chandra are red, medium energy X-rays are green, and the highest-energy X-rays are blue.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations.
Read full article:
www.nasa.gov/chandra/news/chandra-15th-anniversary.html
Original caption/more images: www.nasa.gov/chandra/multimedia/chandra-15th-anniversary-...
Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s)
of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or
endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
This is Messier 1, the first entry in Charles Messier's 18th century catalogue of deep-sky objects that were not to be mistaken for comets, his real quest. It is also NGC 1952, or the Crab Nebula, from the Earl of Rosse's 19th century description and naming. It is north of the lower horn of Taurus the Bull. This is a remnant cloud of debris expanding away from a supernova explosion that was witnessed in 1054 CE. All that's left of the progeniitor star now is a neutron star forming a spinning pulsar at the heart of the explosion debris.
Some red H-alpha tendrils are obvious around the extremity of the otherwise bluish nebula glowing from synchrontron radiation created by the pulsar.
This is a stack of 24 x 6-minute exposures with the Askar APO120 refractor at f/7 with its 1x Flattener, and with the filter-modified Canon R camera at ISO 800. However, no filter was employed here. Autoguided and inter-frame dithered with the Lacerta MGEN3 stand-alone autoguider on the AP Mach 1 mount, Jan 1, 2024. Some high haze drifted through for part of the sequence. The frame was upsized in resolution and cropped from the original.
Planetary Nebula in Canis Major. Taken at Tehachapi, Ca. in January 2014. This object reminds me of football referee giving the field goal signal. The faint planetary nebula PN G227.1+00.5 is barely visible toward the top of this image (mouse over image). Details: NP127is at f4.1; Atik 383L+ at -18 deg C; Orion EQ-G mount;TS OAG; Astrodon 3nm filters: Ha(2hrs:20min(20min subs));SII(2hrs:20min(20min subs));OIII(2hrs(20min subs)).
My website: www.crabnebula.us
La nébuleuse du Crabe - Messier 1 ✨
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Cette nébuleuse est un rémanent (ou vestige) d’une supernova qui s’est produite en l’an 1054. On sait, d’après des témoignages d’un astronome chinois, qu’elle était visible le jour.
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Elle est située à une distance de 6300 années-lumière de la Terre, dans la constellation du Taureau. Elle a un diamètre de 10 années-lumière.
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Cette nébuleuse est encore en expansion. Elle s’étend à plus de 1 500 km/s...
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Les « filaments » qui composent cette nébuleuse sont principalement constitués d'hélium et d'hydrogène ionisés. Leur température est supérieure à 10.000 degrés kelvins.
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Au centre de la nébuleuse du Crabe, se trouve un pulsar très énergétique qui tourne sur lui-même 30 fois par seconde et rayonne autant d'énergie que 100.000 soleils...
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- 1h30 (pose unitaire de 1min30 - 1600iso) d’exposition au 6d astrodon (Par Richard Galli)
- Skywatcher 200/1000 Neq6 pro goto
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Merci d'avance :)
The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula was discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historically-observed supernova explosion. At an apparent magnitude of 8.4, the nebula lies in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, at a distance of about 2.0 kiloparsecs (6,500 ly) from Earth. (Wikipedia)
Imaged in December 2024 from Los Coloraos, Spain in the Turismo Astronómico complex in Gorafe using the C14 Edge HD telescope and ASI 6200 MM Pro camera. Three narrowband filters of Sii, Ha and Oiii were used to produce this colour palette.
Full resolution and technical details available at astrob.in/j0ukp0/0/
Thank you for viewing.
[Description adapted from NASA APOD: 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]
This is a bicolor-rendition in the same style as NGC6888 (linked below in the comments).
I have mapped Ha to Red, OIII to blue and created a synthetic green channel mixing the two (15% OIII + 85% Ha).
Ha: 20 x 30m (5nm)
OIII: 20 x 30m (3nm)
total exposure time: 20 hours.
Main Camera: QSI 583 WSG
Guide Camera: SXV Lodestar (on OAG)
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach 1
Scope: Celestron Edge HD 8" (FL: 2032mm)
Adaptive Optics Unit: SXV-AO-LF
Image Aquisition software MaximDL
Registed, Calibrated and Stacked in MaximDL
Post Processed with PixInsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6
Description: The explosion was seen on Earth in 1054 AD. At the center of the nebula is a rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar that emits pulses of radiation 30 times a second. The image shows the central pulsar surrounded by tilted rings of high-energy particles that appear to have been flung outward over a distance of more than a light year from the pulsar. Perpendicular to the rings, jet-like structures produced by high-energy particles blast away from the pulsar. The diameter of the inner ring in the image is about one light year, more than 1000 times the diameter of our solar system. The X-rays from the Crab nebula are produced by high-energy particles spiraling around magnetic field lines in the Nebula. The bell-shaped appearance of the Nebula could be due to the way this huge magnetized bubble was produced or to its interaction with clouds of gas and dust in the vicinity.
Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray
Date: 2002
Persistent URL:
Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Gift line: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.
Accession number: crab
This ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the moving heart of the Crab Nebula.
While many other images of the famous Crab Nebula have focused on the filaments in the outer part of the nebula, this image shows the very heart of the Crab Nebula including the central neutron star — it is the rightmost of the two bright stars near the centre of this image.
The rapid motion of the material nearest to the central star is revealed by the subtle rainbow of colours in this time-lapse image, the rainbow effect being due to the movement of material over the time between one image and another.
Read more here.
Credit: ESA/NASA
The Crab Nebula is a nearby example of the debris left behind when a star undergoes a violent death in a supernova explosion. However, despite decades of study, this supernova remnant continues to maintain a degree of mystery: what type of star was responsible for the creation of the Crab Nebula, and what was the nature of the explosion? The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has provided a new view of the Crab, including the highest-quality infrared data yet available to aid scientists as they explore the detailed structure and chemical composition of the remnant. These clues are helping to unravel the unusual way that the star exploded about 1000 years ago.
A team of scientists used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. With the telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), the team gathered data that are helping to clarify the Crab Nebula’s history.
The Crab Nebula is the result of a core-collapse supernova that was the death of a massive star. The supernova explosion itself was seen on Earth in 1054 CE and was bright enough to view during the daytime. The much fainter remnant observed today is an expanding shell of gas and dust, and an outflowing wind powered by a pulsar, a rapidly spinning and highly magnetised neutron star.
The Crab Nebula is also highly unusual. Its atypical composition and very low explosion energy have previously led astronomers to think it was an electron-capture supernova — a rare type of explosion that arises from a star with a less-evolved core made of oxygen, neon, and magnesium, rather than a more typical iron core.
Past research efforts have calculated the total kinetic energy of the explosion based on the quantity and velocities of the present-day ejecta. Astronomers deduced that the nature of the explosion was one of relatively low energy (less than one-tenth that of a normal supernova), and the progenitor star’s mass was in the range of eight to 10 solar masses — teetering on the thin line between stars that experience a violent supernova death and those that do not.
However, inconsistencies exist between the electron-capture supernova theory and observations of the Crab, particularly the observed rapid motion of the pulsar. In recent years, astronomers have also improved their understanding of iron-core-collapse supernovae and now think that this type can also produce low-energy explosions, providing the stellar mass is adequately low.
To lower the level of uncertainty about the Crab’s progenitor star and the nature of the explosion, the science team used Webb’s spectroscopic capabilities to home in on two areas located within the Crab’s inner filaments.
Theories predict that because of the different chemical composition of the core in an electron-capture supernova, the nickel to iron (Ni/Fe) abundance ratio should be much higher than the ratio measured in our Sun (which contains these elements from previous generations of stars). Studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s measured the Ni/Fe ratio within the Crab using optical and near-infrared data and noted a high Ni/Fe abundance ratio that seemed to favour the electron-capture supernova scenario.
The Webb telescope, with its sensitive infrared capabilities, is now advancing Crab Nebula research. The team used MIRI’s spectroscopic abilities to measure the nickel and iron emission lines, resulting in a more reliable estimate of the Ni/Fe abundance ratio. They found that the ratio was still elevated compared to the Sun, but only modestly so and much lower in comparison to earlier estimates.
The revised values are consistent with electron-capture, but do not rule out an iron-core-collapse explosion from a similarly low-mass star. (Higher-energy explosions from higher-mass stars are expected to produce Ni/Fe ratios closer to solar abundances.) Further observational and theoretical work will be needed to distinguish between these two possibilities.
Besides pulling spectral data from two small regions of the Crab Nebula’s interior to measure the abundance ratio, the telescope also observed the remnant’s broader environment to understand details of the synchrotron emission and the dust distribution.
The images and data collected by MIRI enabled the team to isolate the dust emission within the Crab and map it in high resolution for the first time. By mapping the warm dust emission with Webb, and even combining it with the Herschel Space Observatory’s data on cooler dust grains, the team created a well-rounded picture of the dust distribution: the outermost filaments contain relatively warmer dust, while cooler grains are prevalent near the centre.
These findings have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The observations were taken as part of the Webb General Observer programme 1714.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, T. Temim (Princeton University); CC BY 4.0
M1 (Crab Nebula) Ha Oiii
This is a combine of the previous two images to produce an false RGB image.
Equipment:
Mount-Paramount ME
Image Train:- SBIG STL 6303 -> Astrodon MOAG-> OTA
OTA: - Celestron HD14
Filtration: Heutech IDAS LPS-P2 prefilter, Astrondon NB
Plate solve:
RA 05h 34m 32.3s, Dec +21° 58' 56.4"
Pos Angle +05° 37.7', FL 3850.7 mm, 0.96"/Pixel
Collection Dates: Dec 14,20,23 2012
8 X 30 minutes bin 2 (Ha 3u) 1.0 red 0.5 green 0.3 blue (240 minutes)
9 X 30 minutes bin 2 (Oiii 3u-) 0.0 red 0.7 green 1.0 blue (270 minutes)
Total time on target 510 minutes 8.5 hours
Imaging: CCD Autopilot driving SkyX/Maxim DL/Robofocus guiding thru Maxim DL thru MOAG 0.1 hrz
Process: Calibration/Assembly Maxim DL, post processing PixInsite/Photohop
Source: hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2005/37/image/a
Retouching: Lightroom 2.1
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This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans.
The orange filaments are the tattered remains of the star and consist mostly of hydrogen. The rapidly spinning neutron star embedded in the center of the nebula is the dynamo powering the nebula's eerie interior bluish glow. The blue light comes from electrons whirling at nearly the speed of light around magnetic field lines from the neutron star. The neutron star, like a lighthouse, ejects twin beams of radiation that appear to pulse 30 times a second due to the neutron star's rotation. A neutron star is the crushed ultra-dense core of the exploded star.
The Crab Nebula derived its name from its appearance in a drawing made by Irish astronomer Lord Rosse in 1844, using a 36-inch telescope. When viewed by Hubble, as well as by large ground-based telescopes such as the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, the Crab Nebula takes on a more detailed appearance that yields clues into the spectacular demise of a star, 6,500 light-years away.
The newly composed image was assembled from 24 individual Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 exposures taken in October 1999, January 2000, and December 2000. The colors in the image indicate the different elements that were expelled during the explosion. Blue in the filaments in the outer part of the nebula represents neutral oxygen, green is singly-ionized sulfur, and red indicates doubly-ionized oxygen.
Peering deep into the core of the Crab Nebula, this close-up image reveals the beating heart of one of the most historic and intensively studied remnants of a supernova, an exploding star. The inner region sends out clock-like pulses of radiation and tsunamis of charged particles embedded in magnetic fields.
The neutron star at the very center of the Crab Nebula has about the same mass as the sun but compressed into an incredibly dense sphere that is only a few miles across. Spinning 30 times a second, the neutron star shoots out detectable beams of energy that make it look like it's pulsating.
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope snapshot is centered on the region around the neutron star (the rightmost of the two bright stars near the center of this image) and the expanding, tattered, filamentary debris surrounding it. Hubble's sharp view captures the intricate details of glowing gas, shown in red, that forms a swirling medley of cavities and filaments. Inside this shell is a ghostly blue glow that is radiation given off by electrons spiraling at nearly the speed of light in the powerful magnetic field around the crushed stellar core.
Finally was successful in this shooting session after two years of trials and errors with countless fails of guiding and imaging. I was able to acquire a little over 1h10min for this image.
This was the very first DSO image I've seen when I was a kid on NASA's APOD, it amazed me on the first sight.
Clear skies everybody!
Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) is seen just above the Crab Nebula (M1) on the evening of November 28, 2020. The image was made of 53 fifteen second exposures taken with a Canon 80D and a Canon 200 mm f/2.8L II lens. The field was washed out by the near by full moon that was about 30 degrees away. (ISO 640, f/4.0)
This image shows Messier 1, the Crab Nebula. This nebula is a supernova remnant dating back to 1054 where Chinese astronomers noticed a guest star that was visible in the sky for almost a month - it was actually a supernova!
Messier 1 can be seen in the constellation of Taurus during the winter months. It's a fairly small target, so a larger telescope is needed to see and capture it well.
This image was captured from my garden with a ZWO 533MM camera, Skywatcher 200P / 8" newtonian on an EQ6R Pro. Antlia Pro Ha 3nm and Ultra 2.8nm filters were used also Antlia RGB V-Pro filters were used for RGB.
Description: In 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers and others around the world noticed a new bright object in the sky. This “new star” was, in fact, the supernova explosion that created what is now called the Crab Nebula. At the center of the Crab Nebula is an extremely dense, rapidly rotating neutron star left behind by the explosion. The neutron star, also known as a pulsar, is spewing out a blizzard of high-energy particles, producing the expanding X-ray nebula seen by Chandra. In this new image, lower-energy X-rays from Chandra are red, medium energy X-rays are green, and the highest-energy X-rays are blue.
Creator: Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Record URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/15year/
In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, four newly processed images of supernova remnants dramatically illustrate Chandra’s unique ability to explore high-energy processes in the cosmos.
This image shows 3C58, the remnant of a supernova observed in the year 1181 AD by Chinese and Japanese astronomers. This new Chandra image shows the center of 3C58, which contains a rapidly spinning neutron star surrounded by a thick ring, or torus, of X-ray emission. The pulsar also has produced jets of X-rays blasting away from it to both the left and right, and extending trillions of miles. These jets are responsible for creating the elaborate web of loops and swirls revealed in the X-ray data. These features, similar to those found in the Crab Nebula, are evidence that 3C58 and others like it are capable of generating both swarms of high-energy particles and powerful magnetic fields. In this image, low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra are red, green, and blue respectively.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations.
Read full article:
www.nasa.gov/chandra/news/chandra-15th-anniversary.html
Original caption/more images: www.nasa.gov/chandra/multimedia/chandra-15th-anniversary-...
Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
The Crab Nebula, which also goes by the names Messier 1, NGC 1952 and Taurus A, is one of the best studied astronomical objects in the sky. It is the remnant of a supernova explosion which was observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054. The tangled filaments visible in this image are the remains of the exploded star, which are still expanding outwards at about 1500 kilometres per second.
Although not visible to the naked eye due to foreground filaments of helium and hydrogen the heart of the nebula hosts two faint stars. It is one of these that is responsible for the nebula that we see today — a star that is known as the Crab Pulsar, or CM Tau. This is the small, dense, corpse of the original star that caused the supernova. It is now only about 20 kilometres in diameter and rotates around its axis 30 times every second!
The star emits pulses of radiation in all wavelengths, ranging from gamma rays — for which it is one of the brightest sources in the sky — to radio waves. The radiation from the star is so strong that it is creating a wave of material that is deforming the inner parts of the nebula. The appearance of these structures changes so fast that astronomers can actually observe how they reshape. This provides a rare opportunity as cosmic timescales are usually much too long for change to be observed to this extent.
The data from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile used to make this image were selected from the ESO archive by Manu Mejias as part of the Hidden Treasures competition.
More information: www.eso.org/public/images/potw1523a/
Credit:
ESO / Manu Mejias
An old target that was worth revisiting after 3 years...
The Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula about 6,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula corresponds with a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. It was the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historical supernova explosion. It has a diameter of 11 light-years and is expanding at a rate of about 1,500 kilometres per second, or 0.5% of the speed of light.
04-05/01/2022
040 x 300-second exposures at Unity Gain (139) cooled to -20°C
050 x dark frames
040 x flat frames
100 x bias frames
Binning 1x1
Total integration time = 2 hours and 40 minutes
Captured with APT
Guided with PHD2
Processed in Nebulosity and Photoshop
Equipment:
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PDS
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm Mini
Guiding Camera: SVBONY SV105 with ZWO USBST4 guider adapter
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC Pro with anti-dew heater
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector
Optolong L-Pro filter
11 Exposure each 240 sec @ ISO800 and 180sec @ ISO1600 Canon T4i Modified
Cropped from original image to almost half the size.
Scope: Orion 80mm ED refractor on G11 Mount taken over two nights.
In 1054 a new star brighter than Venus could be seen even in the daylight sky during 3 weeks then it faded away. The event was recorded in China. In 1758, Messier started his famous catalog of nebulae with this object to make sure to avoid mistaking it as a comet. Only later was it linked to the 1054 nova and identified as the gigantic explosion of a star in our galaxy. This remnant is still expanding fast. This was the last supernova occurring in our galaxy. Astronomers cannot wait to observe a new one as close to us but when will it occur ??
Picture taken with 2 narrow band filters centered on Halpha and OIII.
Total exposure: 5 hours and 20'.
Ha assigned to red (8 subs of 1200s)
OIII assigned to Blue (8 subs of 1200s)
Green is made up of the average of Ha and OIII. I will try to add an SII signal later on.
C11-HD on a G11 mount. STXL 11002m camera.
Urban site
M1 (Crab Nebula) HOS
Hit L to view on black
Wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula
RGB version here: www.flickr.com/photos/floppypaws/6645480569/in/photostream/
This is a wonderful narrow band target, very strong and fairlly equal in Ha, Sii and Oiii. As I was processing this, I was thinking how simular this is to an Opal gemstone.
Next I will see if there is any Nii in this and then if there is, try to figure a way to blend that in.
Equipment:
Mount-Paramount ME
Camera - STL 6303 Astrodon 3nm Ha,7nm Oiii, 3nm Sii
OTA - Celestron C14HD @3899.4/F10.94
Plate solve:
RA 05h 34m 27s, Dec +22° 01' 27"
Pos Angle +187° 16', FL 3899.4 mm, 0.95"/Pixel
Exposure: All Bin2, Oct 30, Nov 1,2 2011
4 X 1 hour Ha(7nm) ( 4 hours)
4 X 1 hour Oiii(3nm) ( 4 hours)
4 X 1 hour Sii(3nm) ( 4 hours)
Total time 12 hours
Hubble pallet Si=Red Ha=Green, Oiii=Blue
Imaging and guiding thru Maxim DL, Guided thru MOAG 0.2 hrz
Process: Calibration/Assembly Maxim DL, post processing PixInsite/Photohop
Shot over three hours in extremely frigid temperatures. Combined with an earlier set of data to bring out the filaments and other details,
Messier 1 [M1]. A supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus.
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: William Optics GTF81
C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled
F: IDAS-LPS D2 (Light Pollution Filter)
G: PHD2
GC: ZWO ASI120mini - OAG
RAW16; FITs
Temp: -15 DegC
Gain 250;
19 x Exp 400s
1 x Exp 300s
Frames: 20 Lights; 10 Darks; 20 flats; 20 Dark Flats.
60% Crop
Capture: SharpCap
Processed: APP; PS
Sky: 10% Crescent moon, calm, minimal cloud, cold, good seeing.
6,523 light years distant.
This is an animation of asteroid 2015 TB145 passing within one degree of the Crab Nebula in Taurus. The asteroid was roughly as far away from the Earth as the moon is during this sequence. This was shot from Long Beach, CA, around 2015-10-31 1040UT. Each frame in the animation is a 20s exposure with a Celestron Edge HD with Hyperstar and Atik 314L+ color CCD camera. Processing was in PixInsight and PS CS 5.1.
Are these astronomical pictographs the bright super nova of 1054 and Haley's comet of 1066?
These images are located above the trail from Chaco Wash to the Peñasco Blanco great house in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. This area was at its peak a millennium ago. The star in the upper pictograph with the hand and crescent moon has been suggested as the supernova of 1054. SN1054 formed the Crab Nebula. The star is in the correct orientation with the crescent moon for July 5, 1054. SN 1054 was first observed the day before in China and would have been near its peak brightness, visible across the canyon. Other proposed identifications include the super nova of 1006 and Venus.
The lower pictograph is barely visible to the eye today, faded by centuries of exposure to direct sunlight. Saturation and contrast have been enhanced to approximate its original appearance. The long fiery feathered tail suggests a comet to modern eyes. This pictograph has been identified as Haley's Comet of 1066 and also possibly as a total solar eclipse with a very active corona from 1097.
Image Sony RX100 V, processed in Photoshop with enhanced contrast saturation mask.
This is the Crab rendered by the ASI 294MC Pro camera. It's a pleasing sharp image but the HII tracks are attenuated by the orange/brown reds you get from this camera. I think this is due to the quite strong response of the green Bayer matrix filter at the red end of the spectrum.
Telescope is RC8 with 0.7X reducer.
This is the hairy component of the Crab Nebula, in stark contrast to the swirly component. I see no way of illustrating the complete and utter dichotomy of structures contained within this single nebula than to post two separate images of it.
You might be used to seeing the Crab with much different colors. This is a narrowband image and assigning colors to narrowband filters is often done arbitrarily, but I've always found the portrayal of the Crab's colors to be much different from typical color assignments. In this version, you see the central part as quite blue, and that color often represents [O III] but that is not what it is. My version has [O III] represented by blue along with the other two also following in order from shorter to longer wavelengths, which is how I nearly always do these sorts of images. I think a lot of others follow this pattern as well, but it is important to remember that there is no one right way of doing it. For the Hubble release one might argue that it is easier to clearly see the structures with the colors that were used for that image.
Data came from the following proposal:
An Emission Line Survey of the Crab Nebula
Red: WFPC2 F673N
Green: WFPC2 F631N
Blue: WFPC2 F502N
All channels, lightly screened: WFPC2 F547M
North is up.
Ha LRGB image taken in January 2014.
My website: www.crabnebula.us
Details: NP127is at f4.1; Atik 383L+ at -18 deg C; Orion EQ-G mount;TS OAG; Astrodon 3nm Ha filter: 8 hours Ha; 4 hours Luminance; 85 minutes each RGB.
Hubble's most detailed image of the Crab Nebula
This Hubble image - One among the largest ever produced with the Earth-orbiting observatory - shows gives the most detailed view so far of the entire Crab Nebula ever made. The Crab is arguably the single most interesting object, as well as one of the most studied, in all of astronomy. The image is the largest image ever taken with Hubble?s WFPC2 workhorse camera.
The Crab Nebula is one of the most intricately structured and highly dynamical objects ever observed. The new Hubble image of the Crab was assembled from 24 individual exposures taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and is the highest resolution image of the entire Crab Nebula ever made.
Credit: NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, four newly processed images of supernova remnants dramatically
illustrate Chandra’s unique ability to explore high-energy processes in the cosmos.
The images of the Tycho and G292.0+1.8 supernova remnants show how Chandra can trace the expanding debris of an exploded star and the associated
shock waves that rumble through interstellar space at speeds of millions of miles per hour. The images of the Crab Nebula and 3C58 show how
extremely dense, rapidly rotating neutron stars produced when a massive star explodes can create clouds of high-energy particles light years
across that glow brightly in X-rays.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations.
Read full article:
www.nasa.gov/chandra/news/chandra-15th-anniversary.html
Original caption/more images: chandra.harvard.edu/press/14_releases/press_072214.html
Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s)
of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or
endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus. This is all that's left of a star explosion that was witnessed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054. Magnitude 8.4 at a distance of 6,500 light years. More information by following the link below:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula
Equipment: Celestron C8N on an AVX mount with a Canon 500D.
Guided with a Starshoot Autoguider on a ZWO 60mm guidescope and PHD 2.6.
Exposures;8x600s and 6x720s at iso 800. Stacked in DSS and finished in CS2.