                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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 15
       The Crab Nebula, M1, is shown as imaged by the James Webb Space
     Telescope. The rollover image is the same Crab Nebula but this time
     from the Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb image is in near infrared
      light, while the Hubble image is in visible light. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                      M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Jeff Hester (ASU), Allison Loll
                   (ASU), Tea Temim (Princeton University)

   Explanation: Cataloged as M1, the Crab Nebula is the first on Charles
   Messier's famous list
   of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab Nebula is now known
   to be a supernova remnant, an expanding cloud of debris from the death
   explosion of a massive star. The violent birth of the Crab was
   witnessed by astronomers in the year 1054. Roughly 10 light-years
   across, the nebula is still expanding at a rate of about 1,500
   kilometers per second. You can see the expansion by comparing these
   sharp images from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space
   Telescope. The Crab's dynamic, fragmented filaments were captured in
   visible light by Hubble in 2005 and Webb in infrared light in 2023.
   This cosmic crustacean lies about 6,500 light-years away in the
   constellation Taurus.

               Tomorrow's picture: daytime Moon, morning star
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

