Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 December 24
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                             M1: The Crab Nebula
               Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Michael Sherick

   Explanation: The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on
   [5]Charles Messier's famous 18th century list of things which are not
   comets. In fact, [6]the Crab is now known to be a [7]supernova remnant,
   debris from the death explosion of a massive star, [8]witnessed by
   astronomers in the year 1054. [9]This sharp, ground-based telescopic
   view combines broadband color data with narrowband data that tracks
   emission from ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms to explore the
   tangled filaments within the still [10]expanding cloud. One of the most
   exotic objects known to modern astronomers, [11]the Crab Pulsar, a
   neutron star spinning 30 times a second, is visible as a bright spot
   near the nebula's center. [12]Like a cosmic dynamo, this collapsed
   remnant of the stellar core powers the Crab's emission across the
   electromagnetic spectrum. Spanning about 12 light-years, the Crab
   Nebula is a mere 6,500 light-years away in the [13]constellation
   Taurus.

                    Tomorrow's picture: A Christmas Comet
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2112/Sherick_M1_SHOLRGB_12-5-21a.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/sagrada737/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/content/explore-the-night-sky-hubble-s-messier-catalog-bio
   6. http://messier.seds.org/more/m001_rosse.html
   7. https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/supernovas.html
   8. http://messier.seds.org/more/m001_sn.html
   9. https://www.astrobin.com/sy8bt5/
  10. http://vimeo.com/71117055
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050326.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180317.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211022.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211223.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211224
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211225.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/