Supernova Remnant M1 by David Malin

[Crab nebula in color, Palomar] [JPG image]

Palomar color image of the Crab Nebula M1. The bright reddish filaments of hot excited gas form a chaotic web superimposed over the blueishly glowing diffuse background of high-energy electrons which emit synchtotron radiation as they get accelerated by the extremely strong magnetic field filling the space within the nebula. This magnetic field is generated by the rapidly rotating neutron star which formerly was the core of the pre-supernova star and is now the Crab pulsar.

  • More information on this image
  • This image was features as Astronomical Picture of the Day for November 22, 1995

    [M1 in Polarised Light]

    This photo was generated using polarisation filters to filter out the light with different linear polarization directions. Four plates were colored and superimposed to generate this impressive image, which shows a surprising symmetry of the source of the synchrotron radiation, i.e. the strong magnetic field filling the space in the nebula.

    See also: Malin and Pasachoff, Discovering the Color of the Crab Nebula in the July, 1993 edition of Sky and Telescope (86 :1 43-46)

  • More info on this image by David Malin
  • This image was features as Astronomical Picture of the Day for November 23, 1995

    The images in this page are copyrighted and may be used for private purpose only. For any other kind of use, including internet mirroring and storing on CD-ROM, please contact Coral Cooksley of the Anglo Australian Observatory.

  • More images by David Malin

    Paul Scowen has also provided a Palomar image of M1

    Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org)
    Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

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    Last Modification: 27 Jul 1999, 19:15 MET