Centre of the Crab Nebula

This is the central region of the Crab Nebula, the famous supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus (The Bull). It was obtained early in the night of "First Light" with the third 8.2-m VLT Unit Telescope, MELIPAL. It is a composite of several 30-sec exposures with the VLT Test Camera in three broad-band filters, B (here rendered as blue; most synchrotron emission), V (green) and R (red; mostly emission from hydrogen atoms). The Crab Pulsar is visible to the left; it is the lower of the two brightest stars near each other. The image quality is about 0.9 arcsec, and is completely determined by the external seeing caused by the atmospheric turbulence above the telescope at the time of the observation. The coloured, vertical lines to the left are artifacts of a "bad column" of the CCD. The field measures about 1.3 x 1.3 arcmin 2. This image may be compared with that of the same area that was obtained earlier with the FORS2 instrument at KUEYEN. (seeESO Press Photo eso9948 - The Crab Nebula in Taurus).

Crediti:

ESO

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:eso0004b
Tipo:Osservazione
Data di rilascio:28 Gennaio 2000
Notizie relative:eso0004
Grandezza:885 x 827 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:Crab Nebula, M 1, Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A
Tipo:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star : Pulsar
Distanza:6000 Anni luce
Constellation:Taurus
Categoria:Nebulae
Stars

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Coordinate

Position (RA):5 34 30.81
Position (Dec):22° 1' 20.45"
Field of view:1.36 x 1.27 arcminutes
Orientazione:Il Nord è a 44.6° a destra della verticale

Colori e filtri

BandaTelescopio
Ottico
B
Very Large Telescope
Ottico
V
Very Large Telescope
Ottico
R
Very Large Telescope