Astr110 Photography Projects, Fall 2005

Crab Nebula, Nathan Jager

The Crab Nebula, also known as M1, is one of the most famous nebulas that can be found in our night sky. This specific nebula is the remains of a giant supernova long ago. The super nova was first noted by Chinese astronomers in 1054A.D., when a bright light, four times brighter than Venus, shown in the sky for 23 days. After those 23 days the light faded away. Then John Bevis, an amature astronomer, came across the Crab Nebula in 1731 while looking at the night sky. Since then the Crab Nebula has been one of the most observed objects in the sky.

The Crab Nebula is located within our Milky Way galaxy. The Crab Nebula itself is actually a large amount of dust and gases moving through space because of the super nova explosion. The gas is expanding at a rate of 1,800 km/s. When looking at the Crab Nebula one can see the "legs" within it. Thes are actually called fillaments, and they hold the majority of the gases and the chemicals that made up the star which exploded. The Crab Nebulas linear size is 13 light years, which means it is a very large object. The Crab Nebula and the interesting pieces of God's creation. It will continue to be one of the most popular objects observed in our night sky.

References:
Seds Database

http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m001.html