Hubble Snaps a New Dazzling Photo of the Crab Nebula (nautil.us)

by Brajeshwar 8 comments 74 points
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8 comments

[−] mlmonkey 52d ago
[−] john_strinlai 52d ago
interesting! the (1999) is a mix of old and new:

"This newly processed image comes from data originally captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1999 and 2000. The color assignments in this image have been matched to those used in the new 2024 data, providing a better comparison."

the original coloring (of the 1999-2000 image) is in the article, or also at https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-... with some other details

[−] Rooster61 52d ago
It's frankly hard to tell much difference when put into the same color scheme. Granted, those minute changes represent MASSIVE shifts in the arrangement of matter throughout the nebula, it just doesn't look that way from this far away.
[−] hnuser123456 51d ago
The nebula was created by a supernova that exploded about 1000 years ago, and the images were taken 25 years apart, so it's about 2.5% bigger in the newer photo.

Besides the overall expansion, some of the wispy cloudy features seem to have changed more qualitatively, some of the curves have shifted shapes and positions in ways more complex than simple expansion, due to magnetic effects.

[−] chasil 52d ago
I'm assuming that most people do not know that there is a famous pulsar inside the Crab Nebula that can be seen in the optical range (one of seven such visible stars, if memory serves me).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Pulsar

[−] geo255 52d ago
"Snaps" isn't quite the right word for photo exposures that are the order of minutes to hours.
[−] csours 51d ago
Compared to the cosmic spacetime scale, "snaps" fits pretty well for me =)
[−] dogscatstrees 52d ago
This kid built a custom telescope platform and was able to photograph the Seagull Nebula, Bubble Nebula, Rosette Nebula, Horsehead Nebula, Crescent Nebula, Soul Nebula, various galaxies, all from Earth.

https://youtu.be/5A3D06D97jo