Crab Nebula

Earth Science                                                                                                  Juliet Timmins

NASA Photo of the Day                                                                                February 4, 2014

 

Image credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant  Team; NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University)

 

            This is an image showing a view of the Crab Nebula, which is a supernova remnant in the Milky Way galaxy. It is a delicate cloud of dust and gas. This picture is from the Herschel Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. This image was also taken on December 13^th, 2013. I choose this picture because it immediately caught my attention due to the bright colors and odd shape. Similarly, I was even more intrigued when I learned that this Crab Nebula dates all the way back to 1054 as observed by Chinese astronomers.

 

NASA Crab Nebula