Astronomy basics > Tales of: History of the Crab Nebula

Tales of ... A history of the Crab Nebula See image below

Hundreds of years before Americans began celebrating Independence Day by peppering the sky with fireworks, a more powerful celestial explosion brightened a summer sky.

It was the spectacular explosion of a supernova, the violent death of a star that may have been more than 10 times more massive than our sun. In July or August of 1054, Chinese astronomers saw and recorded the star's demise. Appearing in the sky above the southern horn of the constellation Taurus was a star the Chinese described as six times brighter than Venus and about as brilliant as the full moon. The remains of this star were later christened the Crab Nebula, a cloudy, glowing mass of gas and dust about 6000 light-years away from Earth. (Continued >>)

Expanding gas in the heart of the Crab Nebula

Astronomy basics > Tales of: History of the Crab Nebula