Hubble’s Inside The Image: Crab Nebula

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken over 1.5 million observations over the years. One of them is the breathtaking Crab Nebula.

With an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and located 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus, the Crab Nebula can be spotted with a small telescope and is best observed in January. The nebula was discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731, and later observed by Charles Messier who mistook it for Halley’s Comet. Messier’s observation of the nebula inspired him to create a catalog of celestial objects that might be mistaken for comets.

In this video, Dr. Padi Boyd takes us on a journey through the Nebula, teaching us some of the interesting science behind this famous Hubble image.

For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Producer & Director: James Leigh

Editor: Lucy Lund

Director of Photography: James Ball

Additional Editing & Photography: Matthew Duncan

Executive Producers: James Leigh & Matthew Duncan

Production & Post: Origin Films


Video Credit:
Hubble Space Telescope Animation
Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen), A. Fujii, Robert Gendler, Digitized Sky Survey 2, Panther Observatory, Steve Cannistra, Michael Pierce, Robert Berrington (Indiana University), Nigel Sharp, Mark Hanna (NOAO)/WIYN/NSF.

Crab Nebula Zoom Visualization
Credit: ESA/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)

Dark Matter Gravitational Lensing Animation
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Music Credit:
"Transcode" by Lee Groves [PRS], and Peter George Marett [PRS] via Universal Production Music

“Night Call” by Timothy Paul Handels [SABAM] via Pedigree Cuts [PRS] and Universal Production Music