Abstract
This is also known as the Crab Nebula. It was formed when a massive star exploded as a supernova. To modest instruments it doesn’t really look any different from any other type of nebula but research pictures show an intriguing “butterfly” shape. It is actually six light years across and all of 6,500 light years away, giving an apparent size of 6 × 4 arcminutes, so is a comparatively large object, much larger in apparent size than any planet. It was discovered in 1731 by John Bevis.
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Pugh, P. (2012). M1–M22. In: Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope. Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85357-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85357-4_3
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