The Crab Nebula was produced in a supernova explosion that was witnessed in Asia and perhaps also in North America and elsewhere, on or about July 4, 1054 AD. It is located about 6,000 light years from Earth. The filaments in the nebula are made of material from the outer regions of the exploded star. A thinner and more diffuse gas cloud (not seen in these images) consists of electrons and positrons moving outwards at nearly the speed of light. These are accelerated from an ongoing source, identified as the pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula. The pulsar is a very compact and rapidly spinning neutron star, the imploded remnant of the core of massive star that blew up as the supernova.
This image is a false-color composite in which the colors indicate regions of different temperatures, with the coolest gas shown in red, warmer gas in blue, and the hottest gas in green.
Camera: WFPC2
Technical Information: Composite of three images taken in the light of cool oxygen (red), sulfur (blue), and hot oxygen (green).
Credit: J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University), and NASA
