The Crab Nebula is one of the most beautiful objects in known space; it is the product of a Supernova dating back to 1054 A.D. It has very unique filament like structures expelling from the Pulsar; a neutron star with the same mass as our Sun, but only one millionth the size. The Pulsar in the center is known as the Crab Pulsar, and it rotates at an astounding 30 times each second.
It is located within the constellation of Taurus and has a length of 11 light years with an expansion rate of 1,500 kilometers/sec. The nebula is 6,500 miles from Earth. Another common same for it is Messier 1 (M1)
The picture was taken by the Hubble Telescope and has false color added for scientific purposes (mostly for seeing which gasses or rays are within the nebula).
Site: Picture from APOD
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