The Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952) the result of a supernova explosion, which occurred in the 11th century and described by many Chinese astronomers of the Song Dynasty, from 1054 to 1056.
In the West, the nebula was noticed for the first time in 1731 by John Bevis, and Charles Messier in 1758, while searching for Halley's comet which he expected to return this year.
The Crab Nebula provides an opportunity for Charles Messier to create a catalog of nebulae, the Crab Nebula M1, is the first object of this catalog. It is located 6,300 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.
A pulsar illuminates the central region of the nebula, the Crab pulsar rotates very quickly on itself, about thirty times per second. Astronomers estimate that the pulsar emits 200,000 times more energy than the Sun.
The expansion velocity of the nebula, to calculate what time it exploded, the supernova exploded, there are about 900 years. Thus we made the connection with the explosion described in the 11th century, in April or May 1054, by the Chinese and Arabs.
This star was then described as the brightest of all the other celestial bodies, after the moon. It remained visible during the day, 23 days. In the center of the Crab Nebula can be seen two stars which one of them, is the cause of the nebula.

The progenitor star, very small, 30 km in diameter, emits radio waves, X-rays, gamma rays and brief pulse every 33 milliseconds, making it a pulsar.
Pulsars are the remains of the explosion of massive stars, a dozen solar masses, and they emit strong electromagnetic radiation, many times per second.
The central region of the Crab nebula is swept by a shock wave, moving in very short periods, a few days.

*  The most famous supernova in the history of astronomy. SN 1054 was a supernova whose explosion was seen from the Earth from 1054, now called the Crab Nebula. It is located in the Taurus constellation in our galaxy.
This new Hubble image, is one of the most important image ever produced with an observatory in Earth orbit. It shows a whole view, the most detailed to date, the Crab Nebula.
The Crab is arguably the most interesting subject, and also one of the most studied in the world of astronomy. The image of this nebula is the largest image ever taken with Hubble camera. It was assembled from 24 individual exposures taken by the Hubble telescope.

nota : The Crab Nebula or M1 is the result characteristic of a starburst. The gaseous nebula is still expanding at a speed of 1500 km/s, which is consistent with the date of its discovery in 1054. The death of a star can be mild or severe, depending on its mass.