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Contact: Gertie Skaarup
skaarup@nbi.dk
453-532-5320
University of Copenhagen
Caption: The Crab nebula is the result of a type II supernova explosion observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054. The nebula consists of the outer parts of a red supergiant that exploded after having burned all its fuel. The nebula is still expanding into the surrounding interstellar medium with velocities of several thousand kilometers per second. In the middle of the nebula there is a neutron star, which is the collapsed central, dead core of the exploded star.
Credit: Hubble Space Telescope
Usage Restrictions: Credit: Hubble Space Telescope
Related news release: The origin of supernovae confirmed
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