Crab nebula (M1, NGC 1952) miq-e xarcang Fr.: Nébuleuse du Crabe An expanding cloud of debris from the explosion of a → Type I supernova in the → constellation → Taurus. Its light reached Earth in 1054 and was visible to the naked eye even in the daytime. Lying about 6,300 → light-years away, the Crab nebula is an intense → radio source (Tau A), and also a source of X-rays and gamma-rays. The diameter of the → supernova remnant is about 6 light-years; it is expanding at velocity of 1000 km/sec. |