Cosmic Pyrotechnics: New Planetary Nebula Dazzling Astronomers

Fireworks
This image of the spectacular Crab Nebula was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The explosion that created the expanding cloud was actually witnessed by Japanese and Chinese astronomers in 1054, but that doesn't mean the event took place then. The nebula is 6,500 light years from Earth, so any glimpse we get of it is precisely that old.

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