Seeing change in the Crab Nebula

[george7378]

M1 was formed when a Supernova, whose light reached us in the 11th century (I think) sent a debris cloud shooting off into space. As we see it, the nebula was formed less than 1000 years ago, and it is a pretty sizable object through a scope. If I were to live for about 80 years, this would nearly be a 10th of the nebula's lifespan. So, if I were to observe it in, say, 2000 and then again in about 2080, would there be any noticable change in the dimensions of the object? Just a passing curiosity...

Thanks.

[yeti monster]

I think, by 2080, you eyes may have given up............

[GazOC]

I'm not sure about visually but I'm sure I've read somewhere that the changes are evident in images taken over the last 50 years or so.

[george7378]

I did a bit of searching and found a great APOD which shows the expansion:

APOD: 2001 December 27 - The Incredible Expanding Crab

[lunator]

Hi George

I swa that when it first came out. It was a fantastic example of the changes that can be recorded

Cheers

Ian

[DarkerSky]

That's a superb find George. Shows change over a known timescale - real valuable observational astronomy in my book

Funnily enough, this was a question I was mulling over a few months back when Dave (EagleEyes) did a talk on the Palomor plates he had gotten hold of. I wondered then if there would be change between the Palamor captures of M1 (1950s/60s?) and images of today. I never had the time to do any research into it though

[glennbech]

There are a couple of variable nebulas available for the more impatient of us like me;

- NGC 1555 in Taurus. Illuminated by T Tauri

- The famous hubble's variable nebula

- Gyulbudaghian's Nebula (Observing at Skyhound: Gyulbudaghian's Nebula). I imaged this and compared it to the DSS plates. Great difference!

[HappySachs]

I did a bit of searching and found a great APOD which shows the expansion:

APOD: 2001 December 27 - The Incredible Expanding Crab

That's great, I wish there were more than two frames though.

[E621Keith]

I did a bit of searching and found a great APOD which shows the expansion:

APOD: 2001 December 27 - The Incredible Expanding Crab

Great find. I always thought DSO are static, but it seems like there are changes that one can see in their lifetime.

Initially I thought the changes was just a result different exposure length, but when I compared the filaments against the star, they seemed to have moved.