The Crab Nebula from Hubble

A mosaic of images from the Hubble Space Telescope have been combined to give the most spectacular image yet of the Crab Nebula. This supernova remnant is what remains from a supernova explosion observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054. Today the remnant allows studies of the effects of a supernova explosion and the interior of a massive star.

In the supernova group at Stockholm Observatory, researchers are actively studying the Crab Nebula. The research attempts to determine what kind of star exploded, how energetic the explosion was and also how the central Crab pulsar affects its surroundings in the nebula.