The Hubble Space Telescope has caught the most detailed view of the Crab Nebula, revealing the intricate epitaph of a long-dead star.
The nebula spans a patch of space six light-years across and has proved an attractive target for professional and amateur astronomers alike. One
light-year is the distance light travels in one year, about 5.8 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).
Wispy filaments, primarily of hydrogen, weave through the Crab Nebula, at the center of which sits a neutron star that spins 30 times per second.
The only fixed remains of the supernova explosion - the rest of the original star stuff has blown outward - the neutron star acts as a beacon,
spitting twin beams of radiation from its poles as it rotates.
The dense, city-sized object powers the Crab Nebula's bluish glow, which is generated by electrons that follow the neutron star's magnetic field
lines, astronomers said. The elemental composition of the nebula can be picked apart by color, with blue areas indicating neutral oxygen, green
regions showing singly ionized sulfur and red portions denoting doubly ionized oxygen, they added.
This image superimposes one of the largest ever produced by Hubble - and the highest resolution view ever of the nebula - over observations from the
European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. Astronomers used Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 to build the image.
Image Gallery: Hubble Space Telescope's Greatest Hits
Zoom Into Hubble's Detailed View of the Crab Nebula
Stunning New View of Energetic Crab Pulsar
Complete Coverage: The Hubble Space Telescope
Visit SPACE.com for more space-related news including videos, launch coverage and interactive experiences. Explore our huge collection of Image
Galleries, view our Image of the Day and Amazing Images. Follow the latest developments in the search for life in our universe in our SETI: Search for
Life section. Sign up for our free daily email newsletter today!
BDx13 - 12-1-2005 at 05:53 PM
i know we've done this before, but for those of you interested, 6 light years is 35.2 TRILLION miles (35,247,539,545,223.73 miles, to be exact). as
far as i can tell, that's 1,415,563,837 times around the equator.Voodoobillyman - 12-1-2005 at 06:29 PM
The sun will eventually do the same thing.defstarsteve - 12-1-2005 at 07:13 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Voodoobillyman
The sun will eventually do the same thing.
but not soon enoughupyerbum - 12-1-2005 at 08:48 PM
Looks like what I horked up in the shower this AM.
