In 1054AD Chinese astronomers recorded a bright new star suddenly appear in the constellation Taurus the bull. It brilliantly out shone all other stars and was visible in broad daylight. After a year or so its light faded and it vanished.
The event was a supernova explosion – the dramatic explosion of a massive star. Today we can see the remnants left behind from this violent event – the Crab Nebula. An expanding shockwave of recycled stellar material. The above amazing image is from the Hubble space telescope.
You can see the Crab Nebula in a modestly sized amateur telescope, and as always the darker the skies the more detail you’ll see. With a 150mm scope or larger you should be able to trace out the overall mottled shape of the nebula. Use averted vision and see if you can pick out extra detail and structure.
Finding the Crab is relatively straightforward as it sits just beside the lowest horn of the constellation Taurus the bull, which sits above and right of Orion during evening skies at the moment.
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