1 min read
Zoom into the Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is an expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion. Located 6,500 light-years away, this glowing relic has been expanding since the star exploded, and it is now approximately 11 light-years in width.
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, which is the crushed ultra-dense core of the exploded star.
Related Images & Videos
A Giant Hubble Mosaic of the Crab Nebula
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...
Crab Nebula: A Dead Star Creates Celestial Havoc
This composite image of the Crab Nebula 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...
Share
Details
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
