[▲ Supernova remnant “Crab Nebula” photographed by Blanco 4m Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)]
This is the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant about 6,500 light-years away in the direction of Taurus. A supernova remnant is a celestial body that can be observed after a supernova explosion occurs in a massive star with a mass more than eight times that of the Sun. It is believed that the shock wave generated by the supernova explosion spreads and heats the surrounding gas, emitting electromagnetic waves such as visible light and X-rays.
The Crab Nebula was discovered by the Englishman John Bevis in 1731. In the 18th century French astronomer Charles Messier’s “Messier Catalog”, which compiled nebulae and star clusters, it is listed first as “Messier 1 (M1)”. In the 20th century, it became clear that it was related to the supernova observed in 1054, and it was thought that it was the remnant of this supernova.
In the Crab Nebula, a pulsar that is thought to have been born with a supernova explosion（※）“Crab Pulsar” was discovered by radio observation in 1968. The pulsar wind blowing out from the pulsar collides with the supernova remnant and emits X-rays and radio waves, and the Crab Nebula is also known as one of the pulsar nebulae (or pulsar wind nebulae) where these electromagnetic waves are observed. I’m here.
*…A type of neutron star in which periodic electromagnetic waves are observed to appear to flicker. It is thought that pulse-like electromagnetic waves are observed on the Earth because the direction of emission of electromagnetic waves radiated in the form of beams from neutron stars rotating at high speed changes periodically as they rotate.
The top image was taken with the Blanco 4m telescope at the Cerro Toloro Inter-American Observatory in Chile, dated March 15, 2023 from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Institute for Optical and Infrared Astronomy (NOIRLab). It is open to the public. According to NOIRLab, the Crab Nebula was also the subject of the first observations made by the same telescope in 1973, 50 years ago.
Source
- Image Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
- NOIRLab – A legendary nebula
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