thefirststarr: The CRAB nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus. It is 6500 light
thefirststarr: The CRAB nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus. It is 6500 light years from Earth and is located in the Milky Way. It has an apparent magnitude (brightness) of 8.4, which is comparable to Saturn’s moon Titan. It isn’t visible to the naked eye, however with the right conditions, it can be seen with binoculars. In yesterday’s post, I discussed that at the center of the Cat’s Eye Nebula there is a white dwarf. However, in this supernova remnant, there’s something different. In the center of this nebula, there’s something called Crab Pulsar- a neutron star spinning at a rate of 30.2 times per second. At these speeds, the spinning neutron star creates a lot of radiation, which ionizes the particles from the remnant supernova (which is why we see the colours!). Since the radiation coming from the nebula is so strong, astronomers can use it to help study objects that occult (block) the nebula. An example of this is when they were studying Titon’s atmosphere. They measured the amount of radiation that was able to reach the other side (Earth!) of its atmosphere. The difference between the amount that started (the amount at the Crab Nebula) and the amount that reached Earth, told scientists about the thickness of Titans atmosphere. Got any other facts/questions about the Crab Nebula? Send me a message and we can talk about it! Stay tuned for tomorrow, it’s the last post of week 2! -- source link