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Tour the Crab Nebula

This video highlights details in NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope images of the Crab Nebula. Hubble’s first observation of the full nebula began in 1999, and 25 years later it captured a new portrait. Hubble’s longevity and powerful instruments provide astronomers with an unparalleled opportunity to study a pulsar wind supernova remnant and how it evolves over time.

  • Release Date
    March 23, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Revisits Crab Nebula to Track 25 Years of Expansion
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Video: NASA, ESA, Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)

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Related Images & Videos

Colorful nebula in space with a white haze throughout that is more concentrated in the center with a rippling effect. Colorful gas filaments appear to splash outward from the nebula center, colored yellow, magenta, and blue. A faint black border with right angles at the corners of the images show where the telescopeu2019s field of view stopsdotted line with right angles shows the borders of the telescopeu2019s image. Small white stars dot the background.

Crab Nebula (2024)

This 2024 image that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured of the Crab Nebula, paired with its past observations and those of other telescopes, allows astronomers to study how the supernova remnant is expanding and evolving over time.

A colorful nebula of thick filaments of cosmic dust and gas appears to splash outward from a hazy white center. Colors include bright pink, blue, and orange. Small white stars dot the background.

Crab Nebula (1999)

This newly processed image of the Crab Nebula comes from data originally captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1999 and 2000.

Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab nebula, annotated with additional information. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 12 ou2019clock direction. The east arrow points toward 9 ou2019clock. At the lower left is one scale bar labeled 4 light-years and 2 arcminutes. The length of the scale bar is about one third the total width of the image. At the upper left is label text reading Crab Nebula M1, HST WFC3/UVIS - 2024. Below this is the color key, with filter names appearing in the color assigned to them in the image. F502N is blue, F547M is cyan, F631N is green, and F673N is red.

Crab Nebula (2024 Compass Image)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope 2024 image of the Crab Nebula, with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab nebula, annotated with additional information. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 12 ou2019clock direction. The east arrow points toward 9 ou2019clock.nAt the lower left is one scale bar labeled 4 light-years and 2 arcminutes. The length of the scale bar is about one third the total width of the image. At the upper left is label text reading Crab Nebula M1, HST WFPC2 - 1999. Below this is the color key, with filter names appearing in the color assigned to them in the image. F502N is blue, F547M is cyan, F631N is green, and F673N is red.

Crab Nebula (1999 Compass Image)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope 1999 image of the Crab Nebula, with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Colorful nebula in space with a white haze throughout that is more concentrated in the center with a rippling effect. Colorful gas filaments appear to splash outward from the nebula center, colored yellow, magenta, and blue. Small white stars dot the background.

Crab Nebula Expansion over 25 Years

The Crab Nebula is a dynamic supernova remnant that has been expanding and evolving for nearly one thousand years. Often nebulas and other objects in space appear frozen in a single telescope snapshot, providing stunning detail but no sense of change over time. However, thanks to...

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 23, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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