The Hubble Space Telescope reveals 25 years of evolution in the Crab Nebula

For more than 30 years, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been observing many parts of the universe. And while it has made numerous discoveries, notably in the distant universe, it has recently allowed astronomers to study the Crab Nebula’s evolution, revealing an incredible image.

It is important to note that this nebula is relatively young. Indeed, it was caused by a supernova in 1054 and was observed on several continents. And that’s not all, because it remained visible for 23 days before gradually disappearing.

Located about 6,500 light-years from Earth, it was observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1999. Subsequently, another observation was made in 2014 using the Wide Field Camera 3. Thus, by combining these two images, scientists can see the evolution of this nebula over 25 years and provide answers to certain questions.

Indeed, the filamentary structures at the edges are moving away from the center at a speed of 5.5 million km/h. Located at the center, there is a pulsar that rotates at high speed, and which is at the origin of this movement. And this is an important detail, as astronomer William Blair of Johns Hopkins University explains: 

"We tend to think of the sky as being unchanging, immutable. However, with the longevity of the Hubble Space Telescope, even an object like the Crab Nebula is revealed to be in motion, still expanding from the explosion nearly a millennium ago."

As a result, these observations could be combined with data from other telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. This would allow scientists to obtain further results and discover new things about this nebula.