Title: M1, The Crab Nebula

Source: NASA

Information: M1, the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus is a remnant of a supernova that is thought to have occurred on the dates of July 4-5, in 1054 A.D., according to Chinese records. This nebula is roughly 6300 light years away. The small central star, CM Tauri, is a pulsar that is only a few miles in diameter, yet emits 30,000 times the energy of the sun. It rotates around its axis at a rate of 60 times a second. This pulsar is a neutron star, which is created when gravity contracts a solar core to the point that the elements in the sun are reduced to neutrons that are pressed up against each other. CM Tauri is only a couple of miles in diameter, but it is visible to the Earth.