| In the year 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers were startled
by the appearance of a bright "guest" star in the sky which we now know
was a supernova. Supernovas are violent explosions of very massive stars
at the end of it's life. (Our Sun will not explode at the end of it's life
because it is not big enough). The supernova was so bright that it was
visible in broad daylight for several weeks. It has long since faded but
the remnants are still there and is called the Crab Nebula.
In this image, the Hubble telescope has zoomed in on the center of the
Crab Nebula to reveal its structure with never seen before detail.
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgement:
W. P. Blair (JHU) |
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