The Crab Nebula in Taurus

Eso_eso9948f_1024

eso_eso9948f November 17th, 1999

Credit: ESO

This photo shows a three colour composite of the well-known Crab Nebula (also known as Messier 1), as observed with the FORS2 instrument in imaging mode in the morning of November 10, 1999. It is the remnant of a supernova explosion at a distance of about 6,000 light-years, observed almost 1,000 years ago, in the year 1054. It contains a neutron star near its centre that spins 30 times per second around its axis (see below). In this picture, the green light is predominantly produced by hydrogen emission from material ejected by the star that exploded. The blue light is predominantly emitted by very high-energy ("relativistic") electrons that spiral in a large-scale magnetic field (so-called synchrotron emission). It is believed that these electrons are continuously accelerated and ejected by the rapidly spinning neutron star at the centre of the nebula and which is the remnant core of the exploded star. This pulsar has been identified with the lower/right of the two close stars near the geometric centre of the nebula, immediately left of the small arc-like feature, best seen in ESO Press Photo eso9948. Technical information: ESO Press Photo eso9948 is based on a composite of three images taken through three different optical filters: B (429 nm; FWHM 88 nm; 5 min; here rendered as blue), R (657 nm; FWHM 150 nm; 1 min; green) and S II (673 nm; FWHM 6 nm; 5 min; red) during periods of 0.65 arcsec (R, S II) and 0.80 (B) seeing, respectively. The field shown measures 6.8 x 6.8 arcminutes and the images were recorded in frames of 2048 x 2048 pixels, each measuring 0.2 arcseconds. North is up; East is left.   #L

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9948f/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Crab Nebula M 1 Messier 1 NGC 1952 Taurus A
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Neutron Star > Pulsar
Nebula > Type > Supernova Remnant
Eso_eso9948f_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 34m 32.0s
DEC = 22° 0’ 51.4”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CW
Field of View
6.8 x 6.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Taurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS2) Optical (SII) -
Green VLT (FORS2) Optical (R) -
Blue VLT (FORS2) Optical (B) -
Eso_eso9948f_1280
×
ID
eso9948f
Subject Category
B.3.1.9.1   B.4.1.4  
Subject Name
Crab Nebula, M 1, Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A
Credits
ESO
Release Date
1999-11-17T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9948f/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
SII, R, B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
83.633185, 22.014272
Reference Dimension
4961.0, 4990.0
Reference Pixel
2443.56045829, 2592.22275423
Scale
-2.292566e-05, 2.292566e-05
Rotation
-0.07593199413
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso9948f
Metadata Date
2023-10-11T09:27:05.942453
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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