APOD: M1: The Crab Nebula from Hubble (2023 Jan 15)

[APOD Robot]

M1: The Crab Nebula from Hubble

Explanation: This is the mess that is left when a star explodes. The Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova seen in 1054 AD, is filled with mysterious filaments. The filaments are not only tremendously complex, but appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova and a higher speed than expected from a free explosion. The featured image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, is presented in three colors chosen for scientific interest. The Crab Nebula spans about 10 light-years. In the nebula's very center lies a pulsar: a neutron star as massive as the Sun but with only the size of a small town. The Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times each second.

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[Sa Ji Tario]

In some texts it is mentioned that the expansion is carried out with winds of up to 2,000 km/s and in the 50s of the last century the RF signal became AF, which is heard as the cry of a baby (with the archaic superheterodynes).

[richardschumacher]

Can you add an arrow to indicate the central star? It's difficult to pick out in this highly detailed image.

[paul-monat]

Question: this explosion happened about 1,000 human-years ago. And now it's 10 LY-wide. Is that speed of light possible? My brain can't figure it out...

[De58te]

Question: this explosion happened about 1,000 human-years ago. And now it's 10 LY-wide. Is that speed of light possible? My brain can't figure it out...

First thing to note is that a light year is not a measure of time, but a measure of distance. Now if the Crab Nebula spans 10 ly, then it's radius is 5 light years from the central star. Now if it took 968 years to expand 5 light years, it took 194 years to expand 1 light year. For comparison, with today's rocket speeds it would take a space rocket from Earth close to 18,000 years to travel 1 light year.

[alter-ego]

Can you add an arrow to indicate the central star? It's difficult to pick out in this highly detailed image.

Pulsar identified.

Crab Nebula - Pulsar Identified.JPG

[Ann]

Can you add an arrow to indicate the central star? It's difficult to pick out in this highly detailed image.

Central Crab Nebula probable pulsar annotated.png

The pulsar (I think).

M1: The Crab Nebula from Hubble Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, J. Hester, A. Loll (ASU)

---

Ann

[johnnydeep]

I believe alter-ego has the correct location of the progenitor pulsar, though it was hard to find another source.
From http://www.scienceworldreport.com/artic ... .htm#page1

Click to view full size image

[alter-ego]

I believe alter-ego has the correct location of the progenitor pulsar, though it was hard to find another source.
From http://www.scienceworldreport.com/artic ... .htm#page1

Click to view full size image

Yes. The star Ann appears to be pointing (Arrowed below) to is ~12 arcseconds south of the pulsar. The source below is Aladin. The crab pulsar labeled, and the boxes are stars from Gaia data. Some Gaia data for the pulsar (green highlighted box) is shown at the bottom of the image.
 

Pulsar ID Correct.JPG

 

[johnnydeep]

I believe alter-ego has the correct location of the progenitor pulsar, though it was hard to find another source.
From http://www.scienceworldreport.com/artic ... .htm#page1

Click to view full size image

Yes. The star Ann appears to be pointing (Arrowed below) to is ~12 arcseconds south of the pulsar. The source below is Aladin. The crab pulsar labeled, and the boxes are stars from Gaia data. Some Gaia data for the pulsar (green highlighted box) is shown at the bottom of the image.
 
Pulsar ID Correct.JPG
 

Hmm, do the coordinates shown in the Gaia image match those here? - https://www.universeguide.com/star/122592/crabpulsar

The location of the pulsar in the night sky is determined by the Right Ascension (R.A.) and Declination (Dec.), these are equivalent to the Longitude and Latitude on Earth. The Right Ascension (Longitude) is expressed in time (hh:mm:ss) and is how far along the celestial equator the star is. If the R.A. is positive, then its eastwards and vice versa.

The Declination (Latitude) is how far north or south the object is compared to the celestial equator and is expressed in degrees. If the value is positive then it is north of the celestial equator. For Crab Pulsar, the location is 05h 34m 31.97s and +22° 00` 52.1 .

Versus the coordinates from Gaia:

crab pulsar cooirdinates from gaia.png

The declination seems to match, but does the right ascension?

[alter-ego]

I believe alter-ego has the correct location of the progenitor pulsar, though it was hard to find another source.
From http://www.scienceworldreport.com/artic ... .htm#page1

Click to view full size image

Yes. The star Ann appears to be pointing (Arrowed below) to is ~12 arcseconds south of the pulsar. The source below is Aladin. The crab pulsar labeled, and the boxes are stars from Gaia data. Some Gaia data for the pulsar (green highlighted box) is shown at the bottom of the image.
 
Pulsar ID Correct.JPG
 

Hmm, do the coordinates shown in the Gaia image match those here? - https://www.universeguide.com/star/122592/crabpulsar

The location of the pulsar in the night sky is determined by the Right Ascension (R.A.) and Declination (Dec.), these are equivalent to the Longitude and Latitude on Earth. The Right Ascension (Longitude) is expressed in time (hh:mm:ss) and is how far along the celestial equator the star is. If the R.A. is positive, then its eastwards and vice versa.

The Declination (Latitude) is how far north or south the object is compared to the celestial equator and is expressed in degrees. If the value is positive then it is north of the celestial equator. For Crab Pulsar, the location is 05h 34m 31.97s and +22° 00` 52.1 .

Versus the coordinates from Gaia:


crab pulsar cooirdinates from gaia.png


The declination seems to match, but does the right ascension?

yes, within 7.5E-5 degrees (0.27 arcseconds). Close enough for government work

[alter-ego]

Question: this explosion happened about 1,000 human-years ago. And now it's 10 LY-wide. Is that speed of light possible? My brain can't figure it out...

First thing to note is that a light year is not a measure of time, but a measure of distance. Now if the Crab Nebula spans 10 ly, then it's radius is 5 light years from the central star. Now if it took 968 years to expand 5 light years, it took 194 years to expand 1 light year. For comparison, with today's rocket speeds it would take a space rocket from Earth close to 18,000 years to travel 1 light year.

Crab Nebula expansion over ~16 years (2005 → 2021) is clearly visible in the hover image. The Hubble image date is 2005, and (new) hover image is 2021. The pulsar is identified in both images.
 

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

A decade-long timelapse is visible here

[Guest]

Question: this explosion happened about 1,000 human-years ago. And now it's 10 LY-wide. Is that speed of light possible? My brain can't figure it out...

First thing to note is that a light year is not a measure of time, but a measure of distance. Now if the Crab Nebula spans 10 ly, then it's radius is 5 light years from the central star. Now if it took 968 years to expand 5 light years, it took 194 years to expand 1 light year. For comparison, with today's rocket speeds it would take a space rocket from Earth close to 18,000 years to travel 1 light year.

Thank you.

[DL MARTIN]

If the Crab Nebula is 6500 light years away, then does the Chinese sighting of 1054 not represent the instant of the explosion? Rather simply when the observation took place.

[Avalon]

Is there any way to anticipate a star going super nova, detectable evidence that will predict such an event? I'd love to see a "visiting star" in my lifetime and am just wondering if there is a way to tell if current earth-dwellers have a chance of seeing one. I am fascinated by all of the accounts of the 1054 super nova as recorded by the Chinese and also in beautiful pictorial form by the Anasazi peoples.

[johnnydeep]

Yes. The star Ann appears to be pointing (Arrowed below) to is ~12 arcseconds south of the pulsar. The source below is Aladin. The crab pulsar labeled, and the boxes are stars from Gaia data. Some Gaia data for the pulsar (green highlighted box) is shown at the bottom of the image.
 
Pulsar ID Correct.JPG
 

Hmm, do the coordinates shown in the Gaia image match those here? - https://www.universeguide.com/star/122592/crabpulsar

The location of the pulsar in the night sky is determined by the Right Ascension (R.A.) and Declination (Dec.), these are equivalent to the Longitude and Latitude on Earth. The Right Ascension (Longitude) is expressed in time (hh:mm:ss) and is how far along the celestial equator the star is. If the R.A. is positive, then its eastwards and vice versa.

The Declination (Latitude) is how far north or south the object is compared to the celestial equator and is expressed in degrees. If the value is positive then it is north of the celestial equator. For Crab Pulsar, the location is 05h 34m 31.97s and +22° 00` 52.1 .

Versus the coordinates from Gaia:


crab pulsar cooirdinates from gaia.png


The declination seems to match, but does the right ascension?

yes, within 7.5E-5 degrees (0.27 arcseconds). Close enough for government work

Ah. I was confused by the different units: degrees of RA versus hh:mm:ss of RA, where there are 24 hours in 360 degrees (1 hour is 15 degrees), 60 minutes in 1 hour, and 60 seconds in 1 minute. This calculator will do the conversion - https://www.vercalendario.info/en/how/c ... hours.html

So, 83.63305 degrees is 5.57553666 hours, 0.5755366 hours is 34.5322 minutes, and 0.5322 minutes is 31.932 seconds , and so, 83.63305° is the same as 5h 34m 31.9s."

[AVAO]

Yes. The star Ann appears to be pointing (Arrowed below) to is ~12 arcseconds south of the pulsar. The source below is Aladin. The crab pulsar labeled, and the boxes are stars from Gaia data. Some Gaia data for the pulsar (green highlighted box) is shown at the bottom of the image.

I agree with you

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

biggg: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/526 ... 1b8_o.jpg
jac berne (flickr)