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Watch the Crab Nebula Expand Over a 13 Year Period

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."

15 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. LAME!!! just 2 exposures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    LAME!!! just 2 exposures alternating back and forth.

  2. Craaaaab people! by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 3, Funny

    Craaaaaaab people! Craaaaaaaab people! Craaaaaab people!

  3. 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.

  4. Re:LAME!!! just 2 exposures by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Funny

    2.43759728 × 10^-9 FPS should be enough for anybody.

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  5. Re:LAME!!! just 2 exposures by SlayerofGods · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Plus the biggest changes seem to be in the colors not the growth which might be related to the fact it was taken by two different telescopes....

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  6. 1054 by war4peace · · Score: 2

    The Crab Nebula exploded in 1054; well, 6500 years earlier, to be pedantic. But the light arrived to Earth in 1054. So what else happened in 1054? Oh yeah, the great Schism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism#Mutual_excommunication_of_1054).
    Funny coincidence...

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    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    1. Re:1054 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ahh yes, a couple of loud mouth idiots from a church yelled at a couple of loud mouth idiots from another church, imagine that! Such a coincidence this happened at the same time as the Crab Nebula exploding.

  7. Bad comparison. by EkriirkE · · Score: 3, Informative

    The second "larger" image was processed differently - more lightening of the dark end & over exposed. All the stars bloom in the new image as they've been enhanced stronger than the older image. Granted the internal filaments did move slightly, there is cheating to make it look more pronounced.

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    1. Re:Bad comparison. by tibit · · Score: 2

      Many people keep repeating it. To me it seems to indicate that many people are either in serious need of an eye exam, or that they see only what supports their preconceived notions, not how it really is. There is no "slight" movement of the filaments, the images almost look like they were of different nebulas, if it wasn't for the background stars!

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      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  8. Memorial by slashmydots · · Score: 4, Funny

    We should all take this time to remember the brave folks who, thousands of years ago, had to self destruct their crab-class starship to save the universe from the Daleks.

  9. 1921 by mbone · · Score: 2

    This was first done in 1921

    http://www.pnas.org/content/7/6/179.full.pdf+html

    True, they didn't have animated gifs back then...

  10. Of course, but... by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ignore the parts that are differently visible and the color differences, and focus on the parts that are the same in both images.

    You'll see that the elements from the earlier photo have moved away from the center of the nebula and this is visible relative to all the background stars.

    G.

  11. WTF Slate? by wiredlogic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Off topic but I really am annoyed with the hack web "programmers" that build web sites with a dozen or more cross site scripts. Here's the shit list from this latest atrocity:

    facebook.com
    google.com
    google-analytics.com
    outbrain.com
    parsley.com
    chartbeat.com
    criteo.com
    vimeo.com
    twitter.com
    washingtonpost.com
    revsci.net
    adsonar.com
    cleanprint.com
    wapolabs.com
    grvcdn.com
    echoenabled.com
    content.ad
    googleapis.com
    amazon-adsystem.com
    visualrevenue.com
    vimeocdn.com
    slate.com

    That's 21 external javascript sites. There are probably more that would be pulled in if I enabled all these sites in NoScript. This is seriously pathetic.

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    I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
  12. Re:LAME!!! just 2 exposures by tibit · · Score: 2

    Why the misinformation?! The background stars don't move, the nebula expands, the color is irrelevant. Watch it in black and white if you must.

    --
    A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  13. Messier and M1 by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 2

    I have heard it suggested that when Messier was compiling his list of things not to look at because they're not comets, the Crab Nebula was prominently in his list because it was significantly smaller and brighter in his day than it is now. It's far from conspicuous today...

    ...laura