Jim Aldrich
12/31/2014 11:10:12 PM
M1 (Crab Nebula) is a supernova remnant located in the constellation Taurus. The progenitor star exploded in the year 1054 as recorded by Chinese & Arab astronomers. Since the SNR is only 6500 ly away, it has been well studied for centuries. The original star remains as a spinning neutron star (pulsar) only 30 km in diameter.
Narrow band filters reveal ionized sulfur (red), hydrogen (green), & oxygen (blue) mapped as per the Hubble palette. About 12 hours of 20 min exposures were combined to complete the image.
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