🌫️ Nebula
Crab Nebula
The leftovers of a star that exploded almost 1,000 years ago.
- Distance
- 6,500 light-years away
- Size
- 11 light-years across
- Discovered
- The explosion was recorded by astronomers in 1054
Did you know?
- The explosion was so bright it could be seen in daylight for weeks.
- At its centre spins a dead star 30 times a second.
Find it in the sky
Photographed or visited by
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
Sweeps the whole sky for gamma rays, every three hours.
The life of a starA step in a star’s life: a supernova
Compare Crab Nebula with the Milky WaySide by side, to scale, in the app
More NASA photos of Crab NebulaStraight from NASA’s image library, in the app
Explore more
All of deep space
The Sun
Our star, an ordinary one that keeps everything here alive.
Betelgeuse
A red supergiant in Orion that will one day explode.
Alpha Centauri
The closest star system to the Sun.
Eta Carinae
A pair of giant stars, one of them about 90 times heavier than the Sun.
Mira
A red giant star racing through space with a tail like a comet.
Zeta Ophiuchi
A runaway star, flung out when its partner exploded.