Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
2.43759728 × 10^-9 FPS should be enough for anybody.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
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.
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.