Key facts
- Category
- Nebulae
- Object class
- Supernova remnant
- Composition
- Ionized gas and supernova ejecta
Crab Nebula
11 lydiameter
Visual creditNASA's Great Observatories 2006 / X-ray: NASA/CXC/J. Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J. Hester & A. Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Gehrz (Univ. Minn.) / Public domainSource: Wikimedia Commons
Details
The Crab Nebula is the expanding supernova remnant created by the stellar explosion recorded in 1054. Its tangled filaments are still being energized from within by the Crab Pulsar, the neutron star left by the explosion.
Astronomers in 1054 recorded the new star whose debris we now call the Crab Nebula. Nearly a millennium later, repeated images still show its gas and dust expanding, so the historical observation and the changing remnant can be studied as one event across time.
At the center, the Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times per second and drives a wind of high-energy particles. Its synchrotron emission fills the interior, while filaments trace material expelled by the supernova. The nebula is therefore both explosion debris and a pulsar-powered system.
Links
- Editorial guides
- Universe journey
- Orion Arm
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Crab Nebula on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Crab Nebula on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Crab Nebula falls between Helix Nebula and Orion Nebula. The band uses nearby Nebulae records.
Shared physical scale
230ly
Sources
References for Crab Nebula
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Crab Nebula — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (NASA's Great Observatories 2006 / X-ray: NASA/CXC/J. Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J. Hester & A. Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Gehrz (Univ. Minn.), Public domain)
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.