Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Composite Crab

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 26, 2006 is “Composite Crab,” an image. It is credited to Credit: NASA – X-ray: CXC , J.Hester ( ASU ) et al.; Optical: ESA , J.Hester and A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: JPL-Caltech , R.Gehrz ( U. Minn ). The original explanation runs about 139 words.

Composite Crab
Credit: NASA – X-ray: CXC , J.Hester ( ASU ) et al.; Optical: ESA , J.Hester and A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: JPL-Caltech , R.Gehrz ( U. Minn ) Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

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

— APOD editors, October 26, 2006

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
October 26, 2006
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: NASA – X-ray: CXC , J.Hester ( ASU ) et al.; Optical: ESA , J.Hester and A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: JPL-Caltech , R.Gehrz ( U. Minn )
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 139 words

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Topics in this entry

NebulaeSupernovaeComets

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: October 26 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.