Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 November 9 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. M1: The Crab Nebula Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]CSA, [6]STScI; [7]Tea Temim (Princeton University) Explanation: The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on [8]Charles Messier's famous 18th century list of things which are not comets. In fact, [9]the Crab is now known to be a [10]supernova remnant, debris from the death explosion of a massive star [11]witnessed by astronomers in the year 1054. This sharp image from the [12]James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) explores the eerie glow and fragmented strands of the still [13]expanding cloud of interstellar debris in infrared light. One of the most exotic objects known to modern astronomers, [14]the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30 times a second, is visible as a bright spot near the nebula's center. [15]Like a cosmic dynamo, this collapsed remnant of the stellar core powers the Crab's emission across the electromagnetic spectrum. Spanning about 12 light-years, the Crab Nebula is a mere 6,500 light-years away in the head-strong [16]constellation Taurus. Tomorrow's picture: UHZ1 __________________________________________________________________ [17]< | [18]Archive | [19]Submissions | [20]Index | [21]Search | [22]Calendar | [23]RSS | [24]Education | [25]About APOD | [26]Discuss | [27]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [28]Robert Nemiroff ([29]MTU) & [30]Jerry Bonnell ([31]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [32]Specific rights apply. [33]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [34]ASD at [35]NASA / [36]GSFC, [37]NASA Science Activation & [38]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2311/M1_webb1024.png 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/ 6. https://www.stsci.edu/ 7. https://web.astro.princeton.edu/people/tea-temim 8. https://www.nasa.gov/content/explore-the-night-sky-hubble-s-messier-catalog-bio 9. http://messier.seds.org/more/m001_rosse.html 10. https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/supernovas.html 11. http://messier.seds.org/more/m001_sn.html 12. https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/137/01HBBMDH12APPEGB8DXVVEP8XA?news=true 13. https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/videos/2023/137/01HDS5S3XBRCK1KNRH67WW2HPW 14. https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.01617 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180317.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211022.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231108.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 21. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 26. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231109 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231110.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 31. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 33. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 34. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 37. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 38. http://www.mtu.edu/