Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

The Incredible Expanding Crab

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 27, 2001 is “The Incredible Expanding Crab,” an image. It is credited to Credit: Courtesy Adam Block ( KPNO Visitor Program ), NOAO , NSF. The original explanation runs about 141 words.

The Incredible Expanding Crab
Credit: Courtesy Adam Block ( KPNO Visitor Program ), NOAO , NSF Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first on Charles Messier’s famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, an expanding cloud of debris from the explosion of a massive star.”

— APOD editors, December 27, 2001

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 27, 2001
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Courtesy Adam Block ( KPNO Visitor Program ), NOAO , NSF
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 141 words

All of December 2001 → · 2001 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

NebulaeSupernovaeComets

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 27 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.