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      Wallpaper author:
      Michelle Ashford

      04 Jul 2026

      The Crab Nebula

      M1, known as the Crab Nebula, is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. It lies in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way at a distance of 6,500 ly from Earth.

      The Crab Nebula was first identified by John Bevis in 1731 and independently rediscovered by Charles Messier in 1758; subsequently included as the first entry in his catalogue of comet-like objects. It corresponds with a bright supernova observed in AD 1054 by Mayan, Japanese and Arab stargazers, and as such is the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historically observed supernova explosion.

      The Crab Pulsar, a neutron star lying at the centre of the nebula emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves, making the Crab Nebula generally the brightest gamma ray source in the sky.

      Affinity: stacking and main post processing

      Blur Exterminator (in Pixinsight)

      Star Exterminator

      Topaz De-Noise

      Dataset from which the image was processed

      M1

      4 credit

      Open
      Telescope Live
      SPA-2-CMOS

      The Crab Nebula