Catching Crabs

MESSIER 1 the Crab Nebula - Credit Open University COAST Robotic Telescope - telescope.org and the Bradford Robotic Telescope. Combination of data from both telescopes taken several years apart and one using standard RGB filters and one using SHO filters - Credit Pip Stakkert Imaging Team Leader at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Crop from the above image: Credits:Open University COAST Robotic Telescope - telescope.org, the Bradford Robotic Telescope and  Pip Stakkert Imaging Team Leader at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"In 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers noted a bright star in the constellation Taurus the Bull, this was a supernova, a star that having fused its reserves of helium gas under went a cataclysmic gravitational collapse. The resulting mega-explosion created the supernova remnant the Crab Nebula - Messier 1 and a spinning Neutron Star known as a 'Pulsar'. The Crab Nebular is 6500 light Years distant and has an apparent diameter of 7 arc minutes as viewed from the earth. It is expanding at 930 miles per second. The pulsar spins at 30.2 times per second and has a diameter between 17 and 19 miles. The Crab Nebula is too small and dim to be seen with the naked eye but it is said to be visible with the aid of binoculars. I have tried to view it through 11x80mm binoculars from a number of dark locations but with no success.  I have seen it through a number of telescopes.  One of the most spectacular viewings I have enjoyed was through the eyepiece of  Olly Penrice's large reflector at Les Granges in the South of France". - Kurt Thrust -acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Image showing the location of the Pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula Credit: Bradford Robotic Telescope and Pip Stakkert.

Credit: Wikipedia