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Watch the Crab Nebula Expand Over a 13 Year Period

Posted by timothy on from the imagine-the-world's-largest-crab-rangoon dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "A thousand years ago, the light from the explosion of a massive star reached the Earth. We now call this supernova remnant the Crab Nebula, and a new image of the Crab taken by astronomer Adam Block shows the physical expansion of the debris, made obvious in a short video comparing his 2012 observations with some taken in 1999. The outward motion of filaments and knots in the material can be easily traced even over this relatively short time baseline."

1 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Nice shots by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The newer one picks up more of the blue, so it looks larger. If you watch the red, it is definitely moving outward. Will have to use this the next time I teach about nebula.