Hubble released a new image of the Crab Nebula 🤩🦀

kellylepo@scicomm.xyz

Hubble released a new image of the Crab Nebula
🤩

The Crab is the remnant of a supernova record by Chinese astronomers in 1054.

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-revisits-crab-nebula-to-track-25-years-of-expansion/

kellylepo@scicomm.xyz

It's been 25 years since Hubble's last full view of the Crab Nebula, and we can actually see it expand.

The way it is expanding is somewhat unique. The expansion of the Crab is driven by the pulsar wind nebula, rather shockwaves from the initial explosion. Filaments around the edge of the nebula appear to have moved more compared to those in the center, and that rather than stretching out over time, they appear to have simply moved outward.

See it in action:
https://youtu.be/xsXH2MGIXbI